News-Record.com

Wow, I could have written this letter!

Sums it up pretty well John, the president and Congress (both sides of the aisle mind you) have done absoultely nothing to solve this issue. 6000 Natl. guards is a joke. This amnesty bill in the Senate is a joke. The last hope is the House, but I'm not holding my breath.

My solution as posted before:

1) Close the borders today with the Natl. Guard. Build a fence. Illegals can help build it.

2) Give every illegal a govt. ID card. If an employer hires someone without this ID card, they get a $50,000 fine per illegal hired.

3) Any illegals who commit a felony are automatically deported after they serve their sentence. No chance ever of coming back.

4) Any illegals cheating on taxes are deported, no chance ever of coming back. Ditto with fraudulent ID cards.

5) Proficiency in English is mandatory.

Of course my ideas wouldn't satisfy Dems or Repubs in Congress. Repubs are terrified as being "anti minority" and alienating business owners, Dems are mining for future voters and of course more illegals would grow government.

Meanwhile we all just sit here and deal with it.

Dan, you have set out some very cogent arguments and some good remedies to the problems. It's good to see that this is an issue at least one side is thinking seriously about.

At least this LTE writer can admit there is
"inept leadership" which is more than many who post here can do.
Dan,
How'd you like the new Treasury Secretary????
Maybe he can bore into that thick skull of your President about global warming.

Can't agree on the issue of a fence. 2000 miles is a lot of fence...bet the fence makers would like that. Do they have a lobbyist? As someone said, also, their dog can dig under a fence. Sending National Guard seems a waste to me.

Seems that being "illegal" is not against the law.

Agree that amendment needs to be changed which allows children born in USA to be automatic citizens. That is a giant loophole that needs to be closed.

Dan, do you think only Dems want the votes from these folks? I don't.

Also seems that letter writers and bloggers have better ideas than our "leaders". Go figure.

Carol, an alternative to the fence could be the ID card. A person would have to come here legally, sign up, get background check, and then get the ID card. I would guess most employers wouldn't hire without the ID card, given the stiff penalties. Soooo, no jobs for those who come here without the card, that would greatly reduce the number of illegals.

But we would still need Natl. Guard down there now until the ID system gets into place, and more than 6000.

Carol, I think the RINOs also want votes from these folks too. Also, they are scared to death of being labelled racist, anti-immigrant, anti poor, etc. by the left. It amazes me that a majority of Americans from various political beliefs want something done about illegal immigration, yet it falls on deaf ears in Washington.

Deacon, this thread is about illegal immigration, not global warming. So go find an LTE about global warming and rant there please.

Look at my previous post, I'm being critical of the president. You should rejoice in that, yet you have to bait and switch into an unrelated topic as you often do.

I too think there is inept leadership in illegal immigration from ALL of the Fed govt. not just the president. Can you abandon your blind partisanship and admit to this too, or is your side perfect on the issue? Or are you going to bait and switch and jump into the war in Iraq per chance?

"I would guess most employers wouldn't hire without the ID card, given the stiff penalties. "

They have that already: The Social Security card/number. And they're forged all the time. Also, have fun rounding up 12 million folks who are actively hiding from the authorities to get them to register.

To solve the problem, you must attack the roots:
Why do illegals come here? To work, of course. Businesses and individuals hire them, and as long as there are jobs, they will come, no matter how tall a fence my tax dollars build, and no matter how many days my brother spends on the border with his NG unit.

Solution? Enforce existing law that penalizes employers for hiring illegals, or bump up the fine a little. Cut the opportunities, and the problem will go away. It may cost some money to implement, but I would imagine that the necessary bureaucracy would be self-sustaining.

You're right, tho- nobody wants to put a foot down- the Republicans are too in bed with big business, which reaps tremendous profit from the cheap, illegal labor, and the Democrats are too in bed with the idea of courting potential voters....

But what the heck, it's an election year, and at least this year, the debate is about a real issue and not some highly polarizing non-issue like gay marriage or something. Oh, wait- that's back in the news, too. Nevermind.

Denzien, Agreed the SS card is forged all the time, my five year old could probably do it. That's why I'm saying get an ID card that is difficult to forge.

No need to round up 12 million people, if employers hire them without the ID card, impose stiff fines. That will persuade employers to only hire those with the ID cards, hence those who don't register and get the card are unemployable.

These ID cards could be traced electronically by the govt. to see where one is employed. If a gas purchase I make with my debit card can be traced, certainly the place of ones employment can too.

Do you know what the penalty is for hiring an illegal under current law? I don't, but would imagine it's pretty lenient.

Denzien,

Saw on the news last night a defender of the "sanctity of marriage" talking about how he felt betrayed by President Bush because Bush hasn't imposed this man's moral agenda. You're right, gay marriage is a non issue compared to other things going on in the world in general and this country in particular. Don't really see why the government should be involved anyway. After all, marriage is a religious issue.

As far as immigration, I am extremely disappointed in the government and will not vote for anybody who is in favor of amnesty. I would love to be able to vote for term limits and for the people deciding when to give our elected reps raises. I'll probably win the lottery before that ever happens.

Dan- about enforcement:

"Employers who hire undocumented workers such as Reyes to do a host of jobs — from construction and meat packing to agricultural work and painting — rarely face penalties, even though a federal law passed in 1986 criminalized the hiring of illegal immigrants.

In fiscal year 1999, the government issued 417 notices of "intent to fine" employers for knowingly making such illegal hires. But by 2004, that number had dropped to three, according to a June 21, 2005, Government Accountability Office report. Worksite enforcement amounted to less than 5% of all of the federal government's ICE investigation activities. Since 9/11, the government has "almost exclusively focused worksite enforcement resources" of illegal immigration on sites such as airports and nuclear power plants, according to the report.

But federal officials say they've been strategically shifting away from administrative fines to criminal charges — last fiscal year, that approach resulted in 127 criminal convictions, up from 46 the previous year."

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/employment/2006-05-04-immigration-usat_x.htm

I didn't realize that they were going the criminal prosecution route, but that seems like an awfully small number to actually convict...

About your ultra-hard-to-forge card, perhaps if you can get the technology passed and pay for it (you'd have to give one to each legal worker, right? and that would include you and me, and, as a citizen, I'm not sure that having to purchase an expensive card in order to work sounds like it would fly- there might be some civil rights complaints, much like state sponsored IDs for voting...), it probably would work relatively well....

Just how much do our so called representatives ignore the wishes of the people who elected them and continue to cater to the illegals? Take a gander at this: In a 50-49 vote (1 abstaining) late last week, the United States Senate voted to table (kill) an amendment (SA 3985 Voting Records) by Senator Ensign (R-NV) that would prevent illegal aliens from collecting Social Security benefits on past illegal employment.

Give you 3 guesses who voted for it and the first two don't even count. For a list of those who voted YEA go to: http://www.socialsecuritychoice.org/index.php

I would think that most people in this country would want to vote out those who cater to Illegals. Time for cleaning house especially those who voted YEA.

Carol has asked several times where or who the guesstimation of 12 million illegals in the US came from. From what I have been able to "dig up", the 12 million number came from Bush in 2003.

There are many other numbers floating around, from 7 million to 27 million. It depends largely on whom you choose to believe or what seems most logical. The American Resistance puts the number of 27 million into the guesstimation pot. CNN guesses 7-20 million. Lou Dobbs (a supposed authority) says about 20 million. Time magazine's guess is 15 million. And Wall Street financial firm, Bear Stearns guess is 18-20 million.

From 1990-2000, NC experienced the greatest change in the number of people not born in the US (foreign born folks). The growth rate was 273.7%. The state nearest to experiencing that kind of jump is GA. Only one other state, NV, had more than a 200% increase. All the rest ranged from a low of 1% (Maine) to 196.3% (Arkansas).

While I was looking up this info, I ran across an article that was referenced in an article that Dan provided. It interested me since, as I have stated before, I see so many abuses of the system by illegals. Worth checking out, especially to those skeptical of such goings on. www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?Article_ID=43275 (Wish I knew how to insert it so that all you would have to do is click. All other screens I use I can get it to work. Oh well, worth the time it takes to type it in.)

Yvonne, just copy and paste the URL:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?Article_ID=43275

mrproduce- you know that illegal immigrants can't withdraw social security, right?

The amendment in question is an interesting one, in that it would affect those that eventually gained citizenship, in that they could not collect SS benefits on money earned while illegal. At least that's what my perusal of the text and supporting arguments leads me to believe.

I wonder how big a problem this really is- illegals put in about $7 Billion a year to the SS admin's general fund. I wonder how much is withdrawn....

That being said, I'd have voted for that amendment..

The bill put forth by Rep Ensign said that illegals could not draw SS on the money earned during the time they were illegal. That is correct. Yes I am aware that illegals can not draw SS. Only those who are here legally can draw if they or a spouse, mother or father paid into the system. Unfortunately however Rep. Ensigns bill was defeated. Who cares what they pay in while illegal? That is the price they should have to pay for being here illegally in the first place. You can rest assured that more is being spent on the illegals than they could pay into the SS system. I can't even see allowing them to draw SSI but according to the law under certain circumstance they can. Why, is what I ask? Just more of the political correctness bull. We have American citizens being turned down daily for SSI who are eligible. Then I am expected to feel good about giving some illegal alien what American citizens are being deprived of? Sorta makes you wonder who the heck elected these folks and why.

Thanks for the numbers info. I always wonder where this stuff comes from. So, in reality, we don't know how many illegals there are. Guess we could say a whole bunch.

We are looking at so many issues today that boggle my mind. With all my great wisdom, ha, even I see no solutions. When you are talking about dealing with millions of people, most whose names and whereabouts we do not know, how do you deal with that????? Our country and population is so large that control is difficult.

It reminds me of child rearing. If you don't control them when they are little, when they are older you are unable to get control.

I really think the amendment which gives automatic citizenship to children born in the USA needs to be changed. I think children should have the same citizenship as parents no matter where they are born.

Instead of considering these issues, we are still talking about an amendment to ban gay marriages, which Bush approves. That should keep some folks happy and keep their minds off what is important to the USA.

Carol,
The real issues don't matter when there are such important issues out there.....Gay Marriage...Flag desecratin....!!

Each night I look into my children's eyes and just tear up thinking that somewhere some loving gay couple might be getting married! Yeah, right. I am worried about the world of debt they will inherit from this group of so called "conservatives"!

I would suggest that you send an email to Coble, Burr, and Dole to protest the time being wasted on "non" issues. Coble turned about the war when his office was inundated with calls and letters for an exit strategy. It does work!