Some people are so driven to have a legacy they ignore the long range impact it may have. Case in point. President George W Bush’s obesession to leave a legacy behind that he has pressured our Congressional leaders to join him in the latest amnesty effort.
Let’s ignore the Secure Fence Act of 2006 that he signed on Oct 26th of last year at which time specifics on funding were yet to be determined. That fence was to be roughly 700 miles long. Let’s ignore the fact that the first responsibility of any elected official is the security of those whom you were elected to represent.
We should not allow the president to dismiss the oath of office where he was asked to repeat the following statement: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
How many miles of the security fence have been completed since that Oct signing. Two, five or ten? And now we hear that the fence will be reduced to 370 miles. How many years will that take to construct?
We have been down this road before. Twenty two years ago we had another amnesty along with assurances from our federal government that our laws would be obeyed. Never happened.
Sadly I have strong feelings that our federal government lacks the will power to enforce any of the “trial balloon” features being floated around over the past 48 hours.
And lastly. Being a Santa Ana based blog I am surprised that none of the other Juice bloggers have issued a post on this high profile policy debate.
Let’s first build the fence, fine the employers who hire those here illegally, than see if our southern border security can be tightened before racing ahead to seek a solution to the immigration challenge.
The only reason to pass this policy before next Nov is to leave a legacy for one man. George W Bush.
Your comments are surely anticipated.
One unhappy Republican.
Due to technical difficulties on my post these comments were received by email.
#1. this is a great deal for the illegals. it’s also a great deal for the Destroy America crowd. bush is selling out America, as there will be a huge demographic shift when these illegal aliens become citizens. they are already up in arms because they will have to pay a $5,000 fine, over an eight year period. i wish i could pay $52.08 a month and receive all the entitlements that they demand, such as free medical care, subsidized housing, and bi-lingual education.
#2 Hey Lar, ……….. too bad we can’t get everyone that feels as we do to protest like the illegal aliens did. This should be throughout the country with specific areas to gather and an opportunity for our congressman to see that there are many of us that do not want to give the illegals amnesty. A guest worker program I can deal with but adding all these people to our entitlement programs will only give the Democrats control of the government indefinitely.
#3 You are absolutely right, Larry
Edmundo Bermudez, a 36-year-old from the northern city of Durango, said the plan rewards those who have already entered the United States illegally, while shutting out those who stayed home hoping to gain legal passage.
LULAC, MALDEF, La Raza and the National Immigration Forum are part of a broad network of immigrant rights groups that hold nightly conference calls and strategy sessions on the legislation. The groups speak daily with top aides in Reid’s and Kennedy’s offices.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051502022_pf.html
Any top aides in your Senators office talk to you daily?
Senor Gilbert writes … “And lastly. Being a Santa Ana based blog I am surprised that none of the other Juice bloggers have issued a post on this high profile policy debate.”
Please elaborate why you singled out Santa Ana on this high profile policy debate. And hiding behind other Juice bloggers is off the table.
We have 18,000+ miles of coast line and border so why should a 700 mi fence make us feel safe? – especially when most of the 911 terrorists were here on valid visas that were even renewed after 911.
A fence is a boondoggle for contractors, etc. – like the bottomless $ pit of Iraq.
How big a tax increase will be needed to pay for all the paper pushers need to administer the Z visas scheme – 20%? or more.
Anonymous #2.
My intent was not to profile the city of Santa Ana based on the high number of Latino’s who live there. My remarks were based on the apparent third rail where none of the Juice bloggers, who happen to reside in Santa Ana, issued their own post on this extremely high profile and widely debated issue.
My intent was to generate a discussion on the pro’s and con’s of the pending back-room deal between representatives of both major parties for which the documentation is still not completed. We are told that the public will not even have a chance to see the draft proposal for another few days yet the media is all over this story. Many high profile mmebers of Congress see flaws in what we have been told to date. Can you trust this government?
Aside form Ron and Anna Winship where’s the Orange Juice bloggers?
My error. It is anonymous #1 that I am responding to in the above reply.
As to anonymous #2. The size of our coastline and borders is for another day. I was attacking what our president signed on to create, namely a 700 mile long security fence. I seem to recall the unfunded No Child Left Behind Act.
This is a very visible bait and switch flip-flop.
As to the proposed Z Visa’s I will wait to read the document if and when Congress is ready to take action.
Once our borders and coast lines has been secured to a reasonable extent than and only than should we be discussing any new immigration proposals. We had better not trust our government to multi-task and do all of their dream sheet ideas in parallel.