Chasm among US lawmakers over immigration bill

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by martin97, Apr 2, 2006.


  1. martin97

    martin97 Fuel busted Trucker. Founding Member

    By Mark Felsenthal

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers clashed on Sunday over whether to let some illegal immigrants stay in the United States and work for citizenship, suggesting compromise may elude Congress on a politically sensitive issue.

    "There's a chasm between the House and the Senate," Illinois Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

    The Senate is debating a bill that would tighten security along the Mexican border, create a temporary "guest-worker" program, and could create a process for some of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States to become citizens.

    The immigration issue has taken on heightened importance ahead of November congressional elections and poses a dilemma for U.S. President George W. Bush, who wants Congress to approve a guest-worker program despite strong opposition from within his own Republican Party.

    Durbin and other Senate Democrats said they oppose the approach adopted by the House of Representatives, which in December passed a measure that would define illegal aliens as felons and would build a 700-mile fence along the border with Mexico to keep illegal immigrants out.

    "The House approach is unacceptable," Durbin said.

    Meanwhile, prominent Republican lawmakers said the guest-worker program is at odds with the immediate goals of legislation beefing up border security.

    "If we don't firm up the border, the guest-worker program is going to encourage more people to enter the country illegally," said Rep. James Sensenbrenner, the Wisconsin Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, speaking on the same program as Durbin.

    A Republican Senator and potential presidential candidate in 2008, George Allen of Virginia, broke ranks with President Bush, saying the legislation should focus on border security and put off debate on a guest-worker program.

    Bush has backed allowing illegal workers to have temporary legal status while performing jobs Americans are unwilling to do. He favors a comprehensive immigration bill, while some Republicans prefer a limited bill addressing only border security.

    "It may be several years down the road or months down the road we can get a consensus on how you handle a good temporary-worker system," Allen said on ABC's This Week.
    "I don't think we ought to be passing anything that rewards illegal behavior or amnesty," he said.

    Sensenbrenner acknowledged that division in Congress over the guest-worker program poses a major obstacle to a compromise on immigration legislation.

    "This will be tough, and it's the toughest thing that I've done in 37 years in elective public office," he said.

    The House bill caused an uproar in the Hispanic community and has drawn opposition from groups as diverse as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Catholic Church.

    On Saturday in New York, thousands of immigrants and their supporters chanted, blew whistles and waved flags from Latin American countries as they marched across the Brooklyn Bridge in the latest of several protests in U.S. cities against the legislation.
    genimageaspx_157.
     
  2. Clyde

    Clyde Jet Set Tourer Administrator Founding Member

    no american flags in the lot!
     
  3. martin97

    martin97 Fuel busted Trucker. Founding Member

    It is unreal that our government has allowed this to happen! they are selling the country to big business and foreign interests.
    I have read in news stories where these illegals have talked about attacks on Americans (whites) if this passes. I will find the stories and post them for everyone to consider.
    I hope all concerned are calling their elected official's and holding their feet to the fire, never has it been more important. The figures are one illegal enters the U.S. a minute. 20 +++ million are here now, when will it stop? when we are all speaking spanish and vincente fox is the pres...
     
  4. martin97

    martin97 Fuel busted Trucker. Founding Member

    (Drivers) License checks fueling debate (illegal aliens prot

    LONGMONT — A state effort to reconcile discrepancies between driver’s license information and Social Security information already has led to the cancellation of 2,000 Colorado licenses.

    Tens of thousands more Coloradans won’t be able to renew their licenses until they fix their records.

    Over the past two years and in batches, the DMV has run more than 4 million state licenses in its database against Social Security Administration data. In January, the DMV started the enforcement stage, sending multiple warning letters to 53,000 state residents.

    While Department of Motor Vehicles and Department of Revenue officials maintain that the enforcement is meant to “clean up databases” and prevent identity theft, local Hispanic advocacy leaders believe the move is no more than a punitive measure to make life difficult for undocumented immigrants.

    “Where is it helping the people of Colorado to have people driving without driver’s licenses?” said Rusty Denham, a caseworker for Centro Amistad in Boulder. “It’s crazy to pretend. It’s about people who have the unrealistic expectation that, by being mean, they’ll make people go back to Mexico.”

    In the past two months, Denham and others at Centro Amistad have translated and explained the DMV letters to dozens of immigrants. El Comité, a Longmont-based Hispanic advocacy organization, also has handled numerous requests for advice from residents confused by the letters.

    The DMV mailed out two kinds of letters. Fifty thousand people — those whose names or birthdays on their licenses didn’t match their Social Security information — were tagged as “Code 5” and told that if they don’t clear up the problem, they won’t be able to renew their license once it expires.

    The “more serious” cases were classified as “Code 2.” Three thousand residents — those who provided “impossible” Social Security numbers that have never been issued — were told in letters they had 30 days to fix their problems or their licenses would be canceled.

    Some 2,000 Coloradans have missed the deadline for fixing problems cited by the DMV and are now driving on invalid licenses.

    M. Michael Cooke — director of the Colorado Department of Revenue, which controls the DMV — said a vast majority of the 53,000 cases come from typing errors, name changes and other easy-to-fix clerical mistakes.

    “This is not about immigration issues only,” Cooke said, “but about the validity of these documents.”

    In most cases, those who still need to clear their records have to bring a state-certified birth certificate, their Social Security card or another document that establishes legal residency, and a driver’s license to a DMV licensing office.

    “Though it’s an inconvenience for citizens to correct (their licenses or Social Security information), it will benefit them in the end when it comes to identity security,” Cooke said.

    But what will happen to the 2,000 people who’ve lost their licenses or the thousands more who won’t likely be able to renew their current licenses?

    AAA Foundation researchers say it’s hard to know how many unlicensed drivers are on the roads, but according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, unlicensed drivers are almost five times more likely to be in a fatal crash.

    “This action will only make Colorado roads less safe,” said Laurel Herndon, director of the Immigrant Legal Center of Boulder County. She added that undocumented immigrants denied valid driver’s licenses will likely resort to using fake IDs, making life harder on police.

    “The DMV is wasting state time and resources to punish (undocumented) people who are trying to support their families,” Herndon said, “and they’re putting people on the road at greater risk, in addition to wasting our money.”

    But Cooke says that since the enactment of a 2002 state law, the DMV has issued licenses only to people who can prove lawful presence in the country. How the state should handle the thousands of illegal immigrants who drive without licenses is an issue for law enforcement, she said.

    Denham said that though the computers that generated the 53,000 letters couldn’t discriminate against Hispanics, the state employees who programmed those computers may have.

    “It is disproportionately affecting Latinos and people from other countries because our bureaucrats don’t know what to do with names from other countries,” Denham said.

    A Hispanic name like Maria Elena Garcia de Gomez, for example, wouldn’t fit into the three fields for first, middle and last names in the DMV’s programs, Denham said. One government employee changes the name one way when entering it into a database, another employee at a different agency changes it another way, and the resident is inconvenienced at best, or worse, runs the risk of losing her license if she can’t produce her original birth certificate, Denham said.

    “In my view, it’s something that’s institutional racism,” Denham said. “Because we’re not familiar with that, we say, ‘Who cares? It’s a Spanish name.’”

    Cooke said the Department of Revenue, not state lawmakers, came up with the idea to cross-check the databases, but she said claims of discrimination are ridiculous.

    “I don’t see that there is any potential for targeting at all,” Cooke said. “It is our job to issue these documents to make sure (drivers) are competent, of age and legally present. Once they meet those requirements, we issue. If there is an individual driving without it, that’s unlawful.”
     
  5. martin97

    martin97 Fuel busted Trucker. Founding Member

    Open Letter to Illegal Aliens and Sympathizers in Chicago

    Dear Illegal Alien:



    In case you skipped civics class in order to protest on the streets of Chicago last week, you need to understand this: The United States is a sovereign nation operating in accordance with the rule of law.



    No one--be it a Ph.D. chemist or toilet bowl cleaner--has the right to come into the United States based on that individual's unilateral decision to do so. U.S. borders and immigration laws govern access to America and must be complied with.



    End of debate. Period. Done. Nada.



    People who illegally cross our borders are outlaws, regardless of their purpose for invading. An apt analogy may help you understand: Bank robbers (those engaged in undocumented withdrawals, if you prefer) commit their crimes only in pursuit of a better life. But stealing from others to gain a better life is not only unlawful, it is un-American!



    Unlawful aliens are really no better than U.S. citizens who rob banks, except for this: Illegals have no legal, spiritual, or logical basis for being in the United States. They are unwelcome here, and should be deported en masse. Now!



    In fact, I believe that the United States should adopt policies employed by Mexico for dealing with illegal immigrants. In Mexico, they do not reward illegals with in-state tuition, driver's licenses, and other foolishness.



    No! In Mexico, the government simply jails illegals and deports them ASAP!



    Maybe, after all, we can learn something from our third-world neighbors to the south?



    Finally, thank your Latino friends for the Chicago protest. It helps our cause when American citizens can see 100,000 illegal immigrants marching to protest laws that will strengthen our homeland security and make U.S. citizens safer.



    Do it again and again, please! And be sure to bring a few dozen Mexican flags--that really helps U.S. citizens understand the urgency of ending illegal immigration!

    John W. Lillpop

    San Jose, California 95111

    Sounded good to me..
     
  6. martin97

    martin97 Fuel busted Trucker. Founding Member

    North Carolina Woman Gang Raped By Seven Illegal Aliens

    Six men were in custody Monday, charged with gang raping a 37-year-old woman visiting a Huntersville home over the weekend.

    But Huntersville police are still looking for a seventh man.

    The woman, whom police did not identify, visited a trailer home in the 11000 block of Cimmaron Road on the southwestern edge of Huntersville around 9:30 p.m. Saturday night, said Huntersville police Lt. Ken Richardson.

    She was a friend of one of the men who lived there, off McCoy Road, Richardson said.

    The friend and six other men held the woman at the home for at least six hours and repeatedly raped her, Richardson said.

    The next morning she called police around 11:30 a.m. and went to Lake Norman Regional Medical Center to be treated for physical injuries.
    Such rapes with multiple attackers are nearly unheard of in the town of about 32,300 people, Richardson said. Since joining the department six years ago, the lieutenant said, he hasn't seen a rape case with so many suspects -- or so much evidence.

    But rape has been on the rise in Mecklenburg County this year. In the first half of 2004, the number of rapes reported to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police increased 11 percent from the same period in 2003. It's unclear, though, how many of the 156 reported rapes were gang rapes, a term for rapes with more than one suspect.

    "It's not the victim's fault," Richardson said. "I believe people should be able to go where they want to go and be safe."

    Huntersville police visited the home Sunday afternoon to collect evidence and found the men were in the country illegally. It's unclear what country they are from, police said. Investigators called immigration officials who detained the men while Huntersville police continued their investigation.

    The woman identified five of the men, Richardson said, and the sixth offered a statement to police. They are still trying to identify and locate a seventh man who raped her, police said.

    On Monday afternoon, police charged each of the six men with first degree forcible rape, first degree sexual offense and first degree kidnapping, Richardson said.

    The men charged are Blas Ceron Santiago, 27; Rafael Ceron Santiago, 23; Alfredo Munoz Perez, 26; and Antonio Islas Lucio, 24. All lived at the trailer. Also charged are Eladio Castillo Castillo, 28, who lives in Cornelius; and Alejandro Morales Suarez, 25, who lives elsewhere in Huntersville, police said.

    Hmmm, what a shock..
     
  7. martin97

    martin97 Fuel busted Trucker. Founding Member

    LONGMONT, Colo. (April 1) - Dozens of high school students protested a temporary school policy forbidding students from displaying the U.S. flag - as well as flags from other countries - amid racial tensions following immigration rallies.

    Student Dustin Carlson told Denver station KCNC-TV that he was suspended for two days.

    “I’m getting suspended for it and personally I think that’s uncalled for,” he said. “If this country means freedom, then why can’t we fly our own flag? It’s ridiculous.”

    Thousands of high school students Friday in California, Texas, Nevada and other states protested the tough immigration laws proposed in the House. Some waved Mexican flags and carried signs saying “We are not criminals.”

    This is happening in Oregon and Washington state as well. We are being OVERRUN with mexican illegals.
    upsidedown_288. upsidedown002_162. upsidedown003_113. upsidedown004_180.
     
  8. 155gunner

    155gunner Monkey+++ Founding Member

    In Pat Buchannan's column today (4 April 06) he addresses mostly Iraq but has a bit about illegal immigration.

    He writes, "Historians will one day marvel that, as their Southwest was slipping away from the United States – demographically, linguistically and culturally – Americans were fighting to keep Iraq together. Remarkable. Foreigners are invading and occupying Arizona, while Americans are fighting for Anbar province."

    This is a profoundly true statement and quite sad too. Why can't the President and a majority in the US Senate see what is happening to this country?

    Pat's entire column can be found here.
     
  9. Quigley_Sharps

    Quigley_Sharps The Badministrator Administrator Founding Member

    I read somewhere they were saying, at the rate of the illegal aliens are coming in, in 25 years we will be the minority.
    well untill war breaks out................
     
survivalmonkey SSL seal        survivalmonkey.com warrant canary
17282WuJHksJ9798f34razfKbPATqTq9E7