My Take on the Presidents Speech

May 16, 2006 in Uncategorized

Here is the text of the Presidents address on Immigration

For the most part I was impressed with the speech. It had several good points but there are still some reservations that I have with the overall plan. First the Good.

First, the United States must secure its borders. This is a basic responsibility of a sovereign nation. It is also an urgent requirement of our national security. Our objective is straightforward: The border should be open to trade and lawful immigration and shut to illegal immigrants, as well as criminals, drug dealers and terrorists.

Absolutely agree here. The border like the president said is a National Security Issue, not an immigration issue. Build a wall, install high tech fecurity fences, or dig a moa; bottom line is that the border is a security risk, and correcting that must be our number 1 priority. The steps that the President outlined are definately necessary in achieving that goal.

Increasing border patrol agents to a total of 18,000 by the end of 2008.

Providing High Tech sensors and other equipment to the Border Patrol  to better enable them to secure the border.

Deploying the National Guard to augment the Border Patrol until they are able to maintain border security on their own.

Empowering Local and State Law enforcement officials to fully become a partner in enforcing immigration laws.

Ending Catch and release!!! nuff said there… It was stupid to implement to begin with, continuing it undermine any other efforts we  undertake in securing the border.

Continuing with the speech:

We need to hold employers to account for the workers they hire. It is against the law to hire someone who is in this country illegally. Yet businesses often cannot verify the legal status of their employees, because of the widespread problem of document fraud. Therefore, comprehensive immigration reform must include a better system for verifying documents and work eligibility. A key part of that system should be a new identification card for every legal foreign worker. This card should use biometric technology, such as digital fingerprints, to make it tamper-proof. A tamper-proof card would help us enforce the law and leave employers with no excuse for violating it.

We absolutely have to hold employers accountable for hireing Illegals. Identification cards using biometric data would definately make it more difficult to use forged doccuments, but nothing is tamper proof. Some other points that should be considerd as well include; Stiffer penalties for employers who hire illegals. Impose higher fines, revoking business liscenses, and jail time for those who are the most flagrant violators.

On the President's fourth point He is absolutely right, it is not realistic nor feasable to deport 8 – 20 million people. and the vast majority of those here are here for one reason. To provide for themselves and their families a way of life that is not possible in their country of origin. Allowing them an avenue to become legal residents is the only common sense approach here. Those here illegally who for any reason who are entered into our criminal Justice system should be immediately deported.

His Fifth point was on assimilation. We only need to look at the riots in France last November of what happens when assimilation does not occur. What we can do to enhance assimilation is to stop providing a means for immigrants to ignore the common language here, and require the immigrant to be able to communicate in english. Ballots and other legal doccuments provided in Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese etc. are some examples. 

Now for what I didn't like;

Presidnt Bush's second point was that Border Security was tied to implementing a temporary worker program. As the President pointed out in the first of his five point program, Border Security is a NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE.. a Temporary Worker Program is a labor issue, and an immigration issue. The border security problem must be immediately addressed, the Temporary Worker Program can be discussed and debated at length once the border is secure. I recognize that there is a need for a Temporary Worker Program but it should not be tied to Border Security as a means to get it through congress and rapidly approved.

There were two issues related to Immigration that the President did not touch on;

1. Something must be done to reduce the time involved in coming here legally. Many immigrants wait 7 – 10 years for their application to be approved. This is ridiculious and must be addressed.
2. Like I said earlier the vast majority of those here illegally came for only one reason, the economic oppertunities available here are not available in their country of origin. To really solve this problem Mexico must provide an atmosphere that encourages economic development, and capitol investment. Until Mexico can develop an economy that supports its citizens we will always have an immigration problem on our southern border.  

California Conservative Michelle Malkin and Captains Quarters have more, and pretty much everyone else in the blogosphere as well.