This issue came up on Tammy Radio today. Michelle Malkin, our woman on the front line of the immigration war, has all the information about Arlen Specter’s attempt to open our borders behind out backs (HT Traci). Michelle’s blog post “The Open Borders Gold Card” is a must-read. Also check out her column on the issue at Townhall.com. Here’s a snippet:
The illegal alien ‘Gold Card’
This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee began debate on a proposal by committee chairman Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) that would create a “Gold Card” program for illegal aliens who broke the law to get into the United States before Jan. 4, 2004. Applicants for the gold card would supposedly undergo a background check by the Department of Homeland Security, then be eligible for two-year work visas that could be renewed indefinitely.
Forever.
If that isn’t the dictionary definition of amnesty, I don’t know what is. Indeed, Specter’s plan amounts to an unprecedented mass governmental pardon for millions of immigration law-breakers (plus their spouses, children, and, by extension, their employers). There’s nothing in his measure that bars Gold Card holders from obtaining eventual U.S. citizenship.
Obviously, it’s not just Mexicans trying to sneak something past us these days. We can now add Specter to the list, and every senator who votes for this. Our job now is to keep this from ever reaching the floor. Contact your senators today and tell them what you think of this dangerous and infuriating plan. Here is a link to the phone numbers and addresses of every U.S. senator.
Just wanted to jump in here and tick everybody off right away. This plan is very close to what I have been advocating a plan very similiar to this for some time, and I am all for it. I won’t spend a lot of time going into my argument because most of you know it by now.
President Bush and Sen. Santorum are to thank for Sen. Specter still being in Washington to muck up things. Had they not gone into PA for Specter, Pat Toomey had an excellent chance of taking Specter’s seat, thereby insuring conservative, instead of Specter’s RINO, votes. They are now reaping what they sowed. Santorum may well lose his seat.
Regardless of what one thinks of the plan (witness above comments), I just gotta say, that Frist (and his co-horts) is one blow-dried blowhard. Remember a few months ago when he came out with double-speak –alleging the US was going to send back every single illegal alien (yeah, right!)…which morphed into some P.T. Barnum-style babbling about how we can take away the workers corporate America needs. What gets me is these pols, (and Frist is one of the worst) think the rest of us are complete morons! The just re-frame their arguments and try to market them as something new.
(No Frist for Prez!)
This is just another example of who realy runs this country. Business. Flooding the workforce with illegal aliens (and creating the new slave class as Tammy says) keeps wages low and draws down the middle class. And since most of us a part of the great backbone of this country we should take it very personally. It’s not American’s won’t do certain jobs, they just won’t do them for the slave wages that are offered!!
A secondary effect is the watering down of our culture and what it means to be an American. If we don’t hold people accountable to norms and standards, then what are we? America is nothing without its principles and beliefs. Literally.
Thirdly, terrorists, murderers, and drug dealers are crossing the border. I wish the MSM has shared the congressional testimony given by the local bordertown sheriffs with us.
Lastly, the only thing I believe that will work—-Last Friday night as I was dozing on the couch “Engineering Rome” was on the History Channel. We need a modern version of Hadrian’s Wall along the Mexican Border. If the Romans could do it almost 2,000 years ago, surely to goodness we could. Forts were built at regular intervals along the wall, with large bases built further in. It’s the perfect model.
I think everyone can agree this will be the hot issue for 2008. It has all the ingredients, security, racism, economics, and international politics. Anybody care to put their theories to the test?
Hi all. For those that listened to the Tammy Bruce Show this morning, I am the “Mark from Idaho” that called this in to the show. I have been a Conservative Republican since Reagan beat Carter and I was glued to the T.V. watching the returns, (I was 9 years old). I have worked on Republican Campaigns since I was 15 years old. However, if this Garbage Legislation gets through, I intend to boycott the November Elections and encourage others to do the same. I believe strongly that voting is a Civic Duty, yet, I cannot bring myself to Vote for the lesser of two evils! If two people cut you, but one doesn’t cut you as deep, do you reward him/her? I cannot.
I second EVERYTHING Tink says, especially America being nothing without it’s principles and beliefs. Beautiful.
Tink and Carpe Diem:
I am really curious, which American principles are you afraid are going to be diluted? I would by no means accuse anyone who disagrees with me as racist, but you two in particular are really approaching that line. The KKK uses the exact same language as both of your comments on a regular basis.
P_J I can’t comment for the others but one American principal that has be diluted with the wave of criminal immigration is for immigrants to assimilate into the culture and learn the language so they could communicate and function as a part of the whole society. Today they don’t learn the language and don’t try to assimilate into society but expect all the services to be provided to them in their language at great cost to us the taxpayers.
Now on the second part of your comment where you compare the others post to the KKK you are just following the playbook of the left. When your argument doesn’t have a strong enough foundation to stand on attack the others by associating them with some extremist/fringe group.
Thank you Johnnyjets. You said it perfectly!
And as we are always reminded, America was built by immigrants. But not by illegal immgrants. It was legal immigrants who wanted to BE Americans and abide by American laws and principles. What’s happening now is chaos and anarchy and puts us in great danger.
I would feel the same way if 500,000 illegals a year were coming across the Canadian border.
If you want to point the racism finger PJ, you need to look at Mexico itself. Read Tammy’s posts and hear her commnets about Vincente Fox and the Mexican government.
Tink, great point on the racism of Mexico. Also people should look at the Mexican stand on illegal immigration into Mexico. They have a number of divisions of their army on the border with Guatemala to prevent illegals from entering. While at the same time encouraging their own citizens to head north including at one time giving maps to help get over the border.
So, Tink and Jonnyjets, back up what you are trying to tell me about the danger to American culture with relevant statistics. You declared that I have a weak argument because I played the race card, and then you backed up my racial argument by stereotyping a population. Come on, you can do better than that. And by the way, I wasn’t calling you KKK, I was asking you why you are different, since you are saying the same things. So far your response has been to parallel the KKK line even further.
Furthermore, I didn’t ask you if Mexico is racist, that is as plain as the nose on your face. For that matter, the Mexicans have nothing on the Japanese. Mention to a Japanese person that they are descended from the Koreans if you want to have a fight on your hands. But I digress. I asked if you were racist, and you deflected.
In California when there was a debate over bilingual education, the white administrators were in favor, the Mexican immigrants were opposed. Their desire was that their childred be educated in english, since everyone knows that is the only way to get ahead in America.
Just for the record, I realize that the racism issue is a very small slice of the argument for or against massive immigration. I do respect the views posted here that are different of my own, but I draw the line on stereotyping and having the “American way” narrowly defined with no real historical context. The “American way” is a tribalistic, animistic, and largely nomadic culture that the Europeans eradicated several hundred years ago, everything else is an evolution and constantly changing field. The only consistent dynamic that I have seen in the new “American way” is a sense of constant optimism and a dedication to justice and fair play.
By breaking the law our principles in general are diluted. When a country loses it’s laws by disregarding them and not enforcing them, anarchy will follow. By coming to the country illegally they are disregarding our principles , our laws. Without our principles and our beliefs and freedoms America as we know it will cease to exist. Not a thought of racism when I agreed with Tink about his views. Only love of country and frustration over border issue. 🙂
Carpe Diem,
You make a strong argument. A society of law and order is one of the principles that I cited when I described the “American way.” I think the current situation that we find ourselves in is a result of a curious mix of tunnel vision, which created a bad immigration policy, and frustration and confusion in implementing that policy that caused everyone to throw their hands in the air and give up.
I believe very strongly in border security. If armed people cross the border and have a stand off with our border patrol, we should call the Air Force in and bomb them. Leave nothing but a smoking crater.
I also believe very strongly that we should give out a few million or more work visas, that can be renewed indefinitely, and can be worked into a citizenship situation, and yes, even to people who are currently here illegally. There are by some estimates 11 million illegal aliens working in the US as we speak. This number speaks not only to failed border security, but to a level of blindness in policy that is absolutely astounding. The fact that people are breaking the law has no bearing on whether it is a law that needs to be changed. If you have a bad law, you change it and move on. You don’t change the law to reward law breakers, you change the law to reflect reality and sound policy.
I believe that if we legalize the illegals that it will raise wages for all of us. Illegal aliens recieve abuse that American citizens would never accept. The first step to eliminating the slave class is to give that slave class some basic rights. This can be accomplished through legalization.
Anyway, this is part of my platform on immigration.
Wow! Congrats to all bloggers on this issue, excellent comments. I can’t see anything happening until there’s a serious “security incident†tied to the Mexican border, because of endangering the Hispanic vote. Am I close on this one?
Chase:
I don’t see this “gold card” bill having a chance in hell at passing. America has no real consensus on what to do about this issue one way or the other, and the politicians are to weak to step out and try to make something happen, one way or the other. As to security incidents, uniformed Mexican soldiers have already crossed our border in armored vehicles and had an armed standoff with the Border Patrol and the Texas State Troopers, and that hasn’t seemed to really affect the politcal debate over this at all.
http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories /2006/01/16/daily34.html
http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_3430815
To be absolutely clear, I am pro security, AND pro immigration. The two are not opposed.