FOR THE CAUSE DOT US

Allan Wall - VDARE:

Learning About Immigration PolicyFrom Mexico

Almost everybody believes that the U.S.A. needs immigration reform. I’d like to propose that we study immigration systems in other countries, to see what we can learn from them. It's arrogant to assume that we Americans have all the answers, and that no other country can do anything better than we can. Some of the biggest critics of our immigration policy are Mexicans. So let's examine Mexico’s immigration policy and see what we can learn from it. We might even decide that Mexico has some approaches to the issue that we could copy. Surely they wouldn’t object to that. Would they? How can we summarize Mexican immigration/nationality policies?

Here’s how: Mexico has an immigration system tailored to fit the interests of Mexico. And what’s wrong with that?

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BusinessWeek:

A 'Troubled' Immigration Reform Proposal - But No One Likes It Very Much

A bipartisan group of senators and Bush Administration officials gathered in the Capitol on May 17 to announce an 11th-hour meeting of minds on immigration reform. The proposal is that workers could come to the U.S. for a two-year stay maximum, and that stay could be renewed twice, but only if the worker departed for one year in between. Business groups want longer stays and fewer disruptions, so they can hire employees from abroad for jobs such as agriculture and construction. "We are trying to figure out if we're more satisfied than disappointed with this agreement," said Stephen Sandherr, CEO of the Associated General Contractors of America. Yet union leaders see trouble in the whole concept: "All workers know that temporary workers depress wages and create a second-class workforce," says Eliseo Medina, executive vice-president of the Service Employees International Union. Says Sonia Ramirez, legislative representative for the AFL-CIO: "We are troubled by the structure we see for the temporary worker program."
[Our take: Let's see if we understand this... Workers go home to register for visas, come here for two years, go back home, stay there for a year, come back, stay here for another two years, then go home and don't come back. This looks like it was architected by The Three Stooges. Yet, politicians on both sides of the aisle herald this as a breakthrough. How will all this movement be tracked? How will the rules be enforced? What about staffing and funding to administer this program? This proposal looks like it just adds more complexity to an already "broken" system. Perhaps that does qualify as a breakthrough!]

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MSNBC / AP:

Senators Strike Deal on Immigration Reform Bill - Compromise Deal Would Legalize Millions of Illegal Immigrants

Key senators in both parties and the White House have announced agreement on an immigration overhaul that would grant quick legal status to millions of illegal immigrants already in the U.S. and fortify the border. The plan would create a temporary worker program to bring new arrivals to the U.S and a separate program to cover agricultural workers. Skills and education-level would for the first time be weighted over family connections in deciding whether future immigrants should get permanent legal status. New high-tech employment verification measures also would be instituted to ensure that workers are here legally. The compromise came after weeks of painstaking closed-door negotiations that brought the most liberal Democrats and the most conservative Republicans together with President Bush's Cabinet officers to produce a highly complex measure that carries heavy political consequences.
[Our take: The agreement specifies that tough border security and workplace enforcement measures would go into place before the temporary worker program, but it has been widely reported that the understaffed, underfunded Border Patrol, ICE and USCIS would be stretched too thin to respond effectively. It is now up to the House of Representatives to act on behalf of American citizens to kill this overly complex, patchwork agreement.]

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American Council for Immigration Reform:

America's Immigration Security Crisis - USCIS Cannot Handle New Amnesty and Guest Worker Programs

The federal immigration bureaucracy cannot possibly handle its present workload, let alone deal with the administrative burdens of new amnesty and guest worker programs under current "comprehensive immigration reform" proposals in the U.S. House and Senate. ANCIR has documented this assertion with a 30-minute DVD featuring Rosemary Jenks of NumbersUSA, which is based on the congressional testimony of Michael Maxwell, former Director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' Office of Security and Investigations, who exposed the rampant corruption and mismanagement in that agency. According to Maxwell's testimony, “The immigration bureaucracy can't handle the current workload and I would be awfully concerned about putting another 10, 15, 20 million people into that pipeline and then tell the American people we have a secure nation. It just can't be done.” You can download the entire DVD from the ANCIR website or view the introduction to the DVD on YouTube.

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WNEP NewsWatch 16:

Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta Scores Big Election Win - Victory Being Called 'Historic'

It's being called an historic election in Hazleton. The Republican mayor swept a primary election in that city on both sides of the ticket. More than 1,200 Democrats wrote the name Lou Barletta on the ballot. It was all smiles at Mayor Barletta's office the day after the primary. The Hazleton mayor won in an landslide not only the Republican ticket but was the unanimous winner on the Democratic side as well. "We bucked the trend in America here in Hazleton. In a country were Democrats are replacing Republicans in nearly every state here in a Democratic area we have Democrats who wrote in a Republican and reversed the trend," Barletta said. Even people who have lived there all of their lives said this was an historic election. "Never. I've never seen an election that was that lopsided in my whole life. I'm 67 years old. I've lived here all my life. We've went through a lot of mayors and I can't understand it myself," said Joe Plesh. Mayor Barletta is well known for his efforts to crack down on illegal immigrants.
[Our take: The lesson for Democrats and Republicans in Congress who are considering amnesty and new guest worker programs is clear: American citizens in Hazleton, Pennsylvania and in communities around the country want our nation's immigration laws enforced. And they want them enforced now! No exceptions! No compromises!]