How would you change the immigration bill?
UPDATE: The bill is dead.
A few weeks ago, the hotly debated bill that would radically reform immigration law looked dead. Tuesday the Senate voted to revive the bill. Here’s the story.
The bill would create a temporary worker program, strengthen border security and institute a new system for weeding out illegal immigrants from workplaces. Here’s an interactive chart with info on how it would change current immigration law.
President Bush is highly supportive of the bill, which he called “a good piece of legislation” and “a careful compromise” that involves give and take from both sides. Surprisingly, the democrats are the ones most supportive of the bill and the republicans are generally against it. (Here you can see how each senator voted.) This is an issue with many conflicting opinions, even within parties.
If you were a U.S. senator, what would be your stance on this bill? Would you support it? What changes would you want to see before you voted for it?
POLL: Who should be held responsible for illegal immigration?
1. Build the 700+ miles of fencing signed into law last year. Since we are building 700+, lets just finish it: FULL FENCING AROUND ALL OUR BORDERS!
2. Militarize the border. We have reports of Mexican army personnel crossing the border while armed and escorting illegal aliens. Border Patrol personnel are not equipped or trained to deal with that type of invasion.
3. Any employer caught knowingly hiring illegals will face fines of historic levels. The CEO, plant manager, and the company itself can all be charged.
4. Have an ID system that works. All illegals must come and register. Failure to do so will result in immediate deportation when you are caught, NO EXCUSES. No felonies permitted, if you have committed a felony, leave now and save us the time. Fines will be assessed for misdemeanors, including illegally entering the United States.
5. Must pay back taxes at a rate of 35%.
6. No chance of EVER being a US citizen.
7. No funding for sanctuary cites.
8. Any illegal who has failed to register will receive NO social services. Arm get cut off in a terrible accident? The hospital will sew it back on, and as soon as you are medically cleared, you get a free plane ride out of the country. Come back again, we take the arm (that is a joke)
Close the border uh? Like that’s going to help any. The immigrants that aren’t completely broke enter the US legally on a tourist visa, which is awarded automatically to anyone from a large list of countries.
All they have to do is just not take their plane ticket back, and suddenly they become illegals who just paid a few hundred to avoid your very expensive fence.
Thanks for your suggestion there Jorge, glad to see you want to be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem. Since you brought it up though, any overstays are, like you said, illegals. So lets add this, anyone caught harboring an illegal will be deported with them. They cant get jobs, the fine for the employers would be too high. They cant get sick, the hospital would have to report them. The idea is to make to simply too unpleasant or troublesome to be an illegal.
#1 - Ditto - funny how the PD who loves Sen.McCaskill didn’t report her vote to lengthen the list of felonies that could be committed before deportation. Kurt, this bill is some 627 pages plus amendments - you make it sound so simple - this is the same administration that decides to require passports and can’t even get that done. They intentionally made this bill so overly long and confusing that no will ever be able to carry it out because know one will know what is even in it completely. Did you know that gang members are allowed to stay if they simply state to renounce their affiliation. Ridiculous!
You know a bill is bad when the Post-Dispatch Editorial Page and Ted Kennedy agree with President Bush.
Chalk this up to a vested interest, but how about we get some concrete studies clearly delineating the vast shortages of critical skills that require a doubling of H1B visas. If you’ll pardon me as I mount my soapbox, H1B visas were created to allow US-based corporations to import foreign workers with critical skillsets not readily available in the states. What it is now being used for, at least based on my experience in the IT industry, is to import a vast underclass of workers who are simply cheaper to employ than their American counterparts (and by “American,” I’m including citizens as well as international students who studied here). As long as there are skilled, out-of-work system administrators, quality control specialists, and, of course, software developers, there is no excuse for importing labor in this particular industry. But don’t take my word for it — ask the cubicle farmhand best known to you to regale you with all of the positive, uplifting tales of their experiences with H1B workers.
*** Dismounts soapbox ***
We now return you to your regularly scheduled topic, replete with reasonable suggestions, nuanced arguments, and blind xenophobia.
The bill is totally and utterly uninforcable. Scrap it today, or tomorrow at the latest.
1. Build concertina wire holding areas for illegal aliens, equip with tents. Any illegal alien,pl or one who has overstayed their visa is, immediately placed therein.
2. They will remain therin until their country of origin or country of their current citizenship pays the cost of apprehension, legal fees, food they eat, medical services, etc., plus the cost of transportation to wherever they are sent.
3. Anyone not claimed by their country of origin within 5 years will be euthanized.
4. I would apploint Dr. Kevorkian as head of the “Euthanization Department of the INS.
5. I would have a pay as you go program that would freeze funds in this country owned by offending countries on a monthly basis.
6. Any balances from offending countries that are more than 90 days old would automatically invoke a 50 percent tariff on any goods or services provided to this country.
7. I would encourage offending nations to have standing police forces in this country to apprehend and deport their illegals. The number would be negotiated between our country and theirs.
Can anyone explain to me why countries should not be responsible for their criminals, and you and I are?
How much intelligence does it take to put a burden on a beast?
4.
There should not be a complicated bill on this matter at all, everything we need is on the books already. Illegal imigrants should be arrested and deported immediately, I don’t care if they are from MEXICO, CANADA, IRAN, RUSSIA, etc.. they are ILLEGAL which I still think that means against a law that has already been passed. This is a ENGLISH speaking country and if you are too stupid or lazy to learn it why should I trouble myself to learn yours. This whole subject makes me sick.
If I were a Senator, I’d like to see the current bill flushed down the toilet where it belongs, then craft another one that:
1. Eliminates the Dept of Homeland Security in its entirety and restores immigration and visa control to smaller, more efficient agencies. DHS is a colossal failure.
2. Asks the President to issue an executive order authorizing state police and prison officials to immediately deport all illegal aliens currently in jails and prisons around the country.
3. Clears the backlog of legitimate residency and citizenship applications first, then begin processing new ones. It’s not fair to make innocent people wait while letting criminals in ahead of them.
4. Forces the Social Security Administration to purge its roles of fake accounts and revamp the SSN application process.
5. Immediately halts all aid to the government of Mexico if it fails to control its border within 1 year. The monetary and social burdens for their problems are not the responsibility of US taxpayers.
6. Repeals automatic citizenship for children born on US soil to non-citizens.
7. Tightens the process of immigration and naturalization so that lawyers and illegal alien activists can no longer game the system for years.
I would certainly add H1B considerations to the bill. In my over 35 years in the computer industry NO ONE has ever been able to explain this massive shortage of American talent that has predicated the need for H1B as a vehicle for that talent. One of the prime directives in software development is problem definition. Hard to fix something, when no one can define what’s broken.
Firstly, arrest the wealthy white folks who hire the illegals, and have made the problem into what it is today. Next, make it contingent upon Mexico sending back the bodies of american students killed in that country. Then, make sure no Bush ever gets back into office since they are scared to death of the drug lords being so close to the ranch to do anything that makes sense immigration wise. Perhaps throw in provisions that make these recent immigrants have to go through legal process like earlier immigrants did. Lastly, but not leastly, teach white males that giving equal rights to women and minorities, even if they have to go through a bit of discomfort during the transition is the way it’s gonna be. Nothing stays the same. Brown is it baby! Meldin’ and mixin’ is the future. Whether YOU like it or not. I forgot…keep ENGLISH as our main language. Remove all that spanish crap off the packages cause this old B’s eyes are getting too bad to read the finer prints.
PS…BIRTH CONTROL FOR ALL…Pope shut up about breeding madly.