New GOP House Majority Bodes Well for Immigration Reform
Washington’s new parlor game involves trying to gauge the chances for comprehensive immigration reform with Republicans controlling the House of Representatives.
Conventional wisdom suggests the chances aren’t good, and there is no way that the new GOP majority in the House would even consider what the last Republican president, George W. Bush, proposed not long ago as a way of fixing our broken immigration system: a three-pronged approach that combines increased border and worksite enforcement, a guest worker program that brings in foreign laborers to do jobs Americans won’t do, and a pathway to legal status for the undocumented.
But I’m not so sure that’s right.
Neither is New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who recently told a journalism conference in Phoenix that Republicans might just surprise the political experts and seize on immigration reform as one of those areas where they compromise with the White House. Unlike issues such as health care and taxes, where the partisan divide is much sharper, immigration is an issue where you can find Republican support for a comprehensive approach. Especially, the governor said, because Republicans can’t afford to continue to be known as “the party of no.”
Richardson also thinks the chances for reform might have improved with the election of four Hispanic Republicans to Congress. The assumption is that, while Hispanic GOP lawmakers might have been drawn to the Republican Party by its positions on lower taxes and smaller government, they were probably not lured there by the nativist rhetoric that many Republicans find as addictive as crack cocaine.
What Richardson says makes sense, and I’m not surprised. He has always had one of the clearer heads on the immigration issue. In fact, during the 2008 Democratic primary election, voters consistently told pollsters that he had the best grasp on immigration of any of the Democratic candidates.
Still, on the question of why immigration reform might not fare so poorly after all with Republicans running the House of Representatives, Richardson has just skimmed the surface.
It worked so well in europe. A few decades ago, european politicians from the left noticed that they will never get a permanent majority for socialism in the european population.
So they decided to just get a new populace that would be more supportive of their ideas. They made immigration into europe extremely easy for people from islamic countries, even if the immigrants go straight to getting government handouts.
In the next decade, the best outcome is a civil war where europe throws out the people that do not share it’s values. The far more likely outcome is europe becoming part of the islamic ummah, with the better-off old europeans enjoying their multicultural dream in gated communities.
You americans are lucky since mexicans at least share some judeochristian heritage. But the mechanism of the democrats trying to get a permanent majority by getting a new populace is exactly the same as what worked so well in europe…
You are proposing a solution to the wrong problem. We can all agree that our immigration policy is broken. But the problem is not that we are too hard on illegals. The problem is that we make it too hard for those who want to immigrate legally, while at the same time we make it too easy to come here illegally. And while many illegals are good people just looking for a better life, some (too many) take advantage of our lax enforcement to come here to go on welfare or commit crimes and continue to stay here illegally. The Chandra Levy case is just one example of the dark side of illegal immigration. Because we cannot trust either party to keep their promises — how’s that border fence comming along — comprehensive immigration reform would be suicide for Republicans. Everyone knows that comprehensive reform is a santized term for amnesty. Start enforcing the laws we have and then we can talk about how to make it easier to immigrate legally – a goal you and I probably share.
Alas, the only immigration reform needed is to 1) enforce the current law to the hilt & 2) no more automatic citizenship for foreigners born here. End of story.
One shortage this country definitely doesn’t have is a shortage of laws.
Your point is well taken.
It’s stupid to argue the system is broken when it isn’t even enforced.
But it IS broken to the extent that it’s difficult and expensive to come here legally, easy and (usually) cheap to come here illegally.
To hope that our Congress would actually do something sensible, like simplify legal entrance and make illegal entrance difficult and/or illogical because of strict enforcement of (new & improved) immigration laws, is apparently naive. We saw how hard it was for any one of them to read ObamaCare before they passed it; why should we hope they would think through a workable immigration system? Some things, it seems, are just toooooo difficult for that august body to even attempt.
I always wonder why Hispanics themselves don’t demand sensible laws, preferring, it appears, “amnesty” to any other plan and accepting a broken system if amnesty can’t be enacted.
Cheap to enter illegally because the laws aren’t enforced.
That’s the point.
Is your car broken because you don’t put gas in it or refuse to use the key? For the amnesty racket scammers, your “broken car” is just cause to force everyone in the neighborhood to buy Chevy Volts.
It should be expensive to come here. It is an expensive country to LIVE in. In fact I propose that the cost of legal immigration be hiked to cover totally the cost of immigration to this country, including legal and illegal and enforcement.
Amen!
…………..and build the FENCE!!
Dear Dr. Bones,
An obol for Neocomrade (sixth class) R. X. Navarette!
Why can’t the señorito grasp that the Kiddie Selfservative Movement simply do not want to buy his steenky brand of “immigration reform” any more than the Inuits want Frigidaires? Nobody else has any intellectual trouble with this point, no matter how they feel about the substance of the Blacks-and-Tans question.
If he had thought of some ingenious way in which the kiddies an’ neokiddies would benefit themselves by bein’ nicer to las indocumentadas y los indocumentados, he might have a good point that the rest of his pack are too omphaloscopic or IQ-challenged to appreciate. But obviously he does not. He can not, when the strongest appeal he can make to an existin’ kiddiepravity is no better than a swipe at “plenty of Democrats who oppose [open borders], usually at the behest of their benefactors in organized labor who want to keep their members from having to compete with guest workers.” As if hatin’ the AFL-CIO were the emotional centre of Wally Wombschool’s ideological life! [1]
It looks to me, sir, as if the NC6 RXNj mechanism must operate so far from beautiful downtown Rio Limbaugh that it might as well be at Salamanca or Sevilla. Presumably it considers the argument I just dumped on to be at least moderately persuasive. Of one so wildly considerin’, what shall we say? How about “a serious deficit of market research”? Can it really be that there is no Archie Bunker quarter in San Diego CA, leaving a Don Ricardito to draw its notions of modern selfservatism exclusively from the op-ed pages of The Wall Street Jingo? [2]
Naturally Jingo notions are, considered in themselves, far superior to pajamatarian, even to YaleoDramatic™, notions. The slaves of Rupert have every advantage over the dupes of Simon, above all an immense edge, pricey-educationwise. Nevertheless, it will not do analytically to suppose that fancies peculiar to the former constitute the whole m’gillâh of the Vast Whight-Wing Conspiracy. It would not even do to run the Twin Pillars of xenophobia and scab-loving together, should NC6 RXNj ever advance as far as contemplatin’ that gambit. These great neopillars are separate and distinct.
Furthermore, the two are distinct vertically as well as horizontally, even though that wrecks my architectural figure. Charles I Stuart got it right when he (more or less) laid it down next to his head that An Employer and an employee are clean different things.
If that princely maxim be not a principium sapientiæ, Dr. Bones, then there never was such a thing! Neocomrade R. X. Navarette, Jr., can have nothin’ useful to say about immigration reform (and lots of other fun topics) until he takes adequate cognizance of it.
Happy days.
___
[1] Also as if Master Wally didn’t the least bit mind competin’ with Don Juan Tiajuana! Which if you believe, sir, you would believe anything.
[2] Considered as a gateway to Jingodom, that exact URL (“A Worthy Immigration Bill:
The Dream Act rewards military service and student achievement”) is not unilluminating: the Firstlord of Murdoch expects his patients to pay not just for their daily ration of ©o®pNews™, but, in this case, at least, for gettin’ their brains washed too.
All very interesting in itself, that is, but there is no connection with our announced topic. Unless an arguer were to argue, very severely indeed, that NC6 RXFj ought to mark well the Great Wall of Rupert and infer how little Jingos care whether “the small people” ever do get their brains completely right.
(( Digression is sweet, so allow me to betcha that a WSJ op-ed against Union thugs probably would not have been squirreled away behind the buckwall: Master Wally’s brain is washable on that point, whereas the Jingos — not fools, only knaves — know better than to go head-to-head with the xenophobia of their Party base an’ vile. The B. ’n’ V. are rather too well aware already what their betters up at the Country Club think about crimmigrants and criminaliens. So, then: “Least said, soonest mended.”
(( Bein’ evidently a virtual foreigner, Don Ricardito would need to be a filósofo to work out from scratch in the abstract that the Union League Club’s bad attitude about employee solidarity and the bad attitude about Blacks and Tans over across the railroad tracks at Paling’s Place scarcely overlap sociopolitically, despite arising from roughly the same ultimate cause — “to keep … from having to compete” — and despite being about equally worthy to be cited as characteristic of 2010 selfservatism. ))
The only “comprehensive immigration reform” would be closing and controlling the border and deporting all illegals; and, in addition, charging all employers of illegals for breaking the law.
I’d not mind should the politicians favoring illegal immigration be brought to justice for aiding and abetting this criminal enterprise and the damage it has done to our country.
The Rs have the history of amnesty. I do not trust them anymore I trust the Ds.
This is not how immigration should be handled. There are literally millions of skilled and law-abiding people waiting in line to immigrate and contribute to the American society.
Those we’d let in, not the criminals.
Now that Republicans OWN 29 states and a half dozen more with Repub Governors it is time we codify, through the Amendment process, several needed reiterations of The Founders original intent:
#1-The Constitution of the United States is the Supreme Law of the Land and English is the National Language. The Supreme Court, Federal Appellate Courts, nor any Judicial entities shall use International Case Law, decisions, rulings or findings as precedent for American Case Law. No Federal documents shall be written in any language other then English.
#2-The granting of American Citizenship is a privilege, not a right, and shall not be granted to convicted felons, nor those who have gained entrance through our boarders illegally and in violation of American Immigration Laws. Children born of illegal immigrant parents shall be granted Citizenship that will not extend to said parents or any extended family members that qualify as felons or in violation of Immigration Laws.
#3-No law shall be passed by Congress to apply to the American people that does not apply to Congress nor can Congress pass any law that applies to them but not to the American people.
#4-The Operating Budget of United States shall not be supplemented by any Deficit Spending, Borrowing, or Printing of Money but instead be balanced with Revenues. Personal and business taxation shall not exceed 20% of total gross income.
I know these are not perfect but they at least begin to reflect the mood of the American majority. Let’s bring them out in the open and have the states debate and rationalize their decisions.
Somebody has been sniffing loco-weed.
FACT: Any Republican; established insider or new that even thinks of supporting comprehensive immigration reform (amnesty) will be ushered out of Congress faster than a bullet goes through whipped cream.
You are right about this. The Repubics had better think twice before starting this ‘comprehensive XXX reform.’ This term means that Whitey is about to get scr***d without a kiss once again. I suggest that if we need more immigration it should come from Europe; we have too much of the brown-skinned variety and these folks are causing problems. He** they won’t even learn to speak English.
The inescapable reality is that Third Worlders bring the Third World with them. It’s happening all over the Western world, and it seems to matter not from which particular part of the Third World said immigrants come. The days of shutting down this observation with a spittle-flecked accusation of “that’s racism!” are fast coming to an end.
“I suggest that if we need more immigration it should come from Europe;”
Currently some 6 per cent of the legal immigrants come from Europe, most from UK (white, who knows), and some 2.6 % from Canada.
The Mexicans and other Latinos, legal and illegal, keep on coming and nothing will be done – ever.
http://www.dhs.gov/files/statistics/immigration.shtm
But do you think the current system needs change desperately? The current system is broken, either in law or in implementation. In either case, there needs to be something done, and so what if it is “comprehensive”
the system is fine it just needs more people working to get thise damn illegals out of here. sheriff joe in arizona has the right idea, if you can’t prove your an american, you should get kicked out.
So a 100% legal citizen that happens to have Hispanic heritage, needs to carry every possible form of identification because they appear to be like an illegal immigrant?
And on the other side, what if someone illegally immigrated from Sweden, Finland or Britain? Would they be stopped and asked for their “papers” just as often as the legal citizen from above?
So what? The price of being free is a great price. If a few people are inconvenienced for the sake of their citizenship and all the great things they get to have here, whats the big deal?
If we HAD an illegal immigration problem from Sweden you might have a point. But we don’t. We DO have an illegal immigration problem from Mexico, and it’s a gargantuan one.
Citizens are not equivalent to ‘American’. Americans are NW Europeans — only. Sure, we all cringe at the idea of 3rd world primitives having a say in our politics, but do you feel any better about Italians and Chinese having a vote. We all appreciate the wonderful Chinese democracies, and the Italian genius for politics is well-established. The crucial fact to keep in mind (and that our grandparents knew well and codified in their exclusionary immigration laws) is that different peoples are different. They are different in particular ways that are easily knowable by looking at their native cultures and traditions. If we do not want these traditions imported into our country, then we must exclude these peoples. Or not — but don’t try to give us any crap about they’re really the same as us. None of them will be content until they’ve recreated their native systems here.
Everyone should keep ID handy.
Freedom and liberty are rightfully more limited in public places to protect other individuals.
Our government supports full body scans and full pat downs for people getting on planes, it is contradictory to suggest that a requirement to carry ID in public places is somehow a bigger infringement on liberty.
Carry the ID, and if questioned, supply it. Reasonable in public, YES.
The further erosion of liberty and freedom is the consequences of increasing population. YOU like immigration, YOU deal with the fact that the government must use more and more tools that erode freedom and liberty to protect the growing population.
Its called reality.
Every time there is change, it turns out for the worst. A new government agency full of bureaucrats stuffing their pockets with our money.
That is just a pessimistic viewpoint.
Build a credible border fence and enforce the immigration laws that are on the books. If that’s a “new” version for “immigration reform,” then I’m all for it. We can always talk about “reforming” immigration, but NOTHING will happen until we fix the border and enforce our own laws. Why don’t the people in Washington get that?
Reform to conservatives means enforcing the laws of our country. Any other reform is not reform but pandering. This country needs, more than anything else, to believe in and restore it’s values. Until that time anyone who lives here or comes to this country legally or illigeally is just pretending.
Nothing wrong with “immigration reform” if it’s sensible i.e. one that recognizes that a secure border is necessary, allows law enforcement officers to enforce our laws, and doesn’t reward those who break our laws.
Time to suck up to the Republicans Ruben?
No more cocky, vicious insults and names?
Alas, one must give credit where credit is due.
Regardless who or what party is in power, you know what brown tastes like.
Splendid Post! LOL
I know this bonehead has the ability to read the tea leaves so that every political development is favorable to illegal immigrants, but how does he explain the Tea Party’s unequivocal opposition to amnesty?
This piece is delusional. Republicans (and most Americans) are not willing to even discuss immigration reform until we are comfortable the border is sealed. Given Bambi’s attitude, that will not happen on his watch. Result: no reform.
With unemployment as high as it is, support for actually deporting most illegal aliens will probably increase. And, support will increase for cutting illegal aliens off from any government benefits other than emergency health care immediately prior to deportation.
LEGAL immigration is a wonderful thing, but we should not tolerate illegal immigrants. It’s immoral to accept those who break the law and to discriminate against the law abiding – citizens and non-citizens alike.
He may well be delusional, but he is surely deceitful.
Certainly unemployment is too high, but as long as unemployment benefits are extended further and further into the future, there will always remain “jobs Americans won’t do.” And the pro-illegal-immigration bunch are trying hard to convince us that only illegal immigrants will do these jobs.
Secure the borders first.
DHS is proving it can go after websites with copywritten material at the behest of Big Media, but actually doing something to get out of the office and secure the borders? Not so much.
You can’t get to ‘immigration reform’ until the borders are secured as that is required to show that the US government can actually do the job set to it. It hasn’t demonstrated that to-date, so why would anyone trust any ‘immigration reform’ with a bureaucracy that is incapable, incompetent and wasting taxpayer money to support Big Media?
The thing that needs reforming is DHS – into smaller, accountable pieces that might actually work as they are supposed to.
“the last time the country debated an “amnesty,” it was in response to the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, a bill written by one Republican (Sen. Alan Simpson, R-WY) and signed by another (President Ronald Reagan).”
Unlike Dems, Republicans learn from their mistakes.
“Sen. David Vitter, R-LA, proposed an obnoxious amendment that would have stripped away the language calling for illegal immigrants to be given visas so they could remain in the country legally. ”
“Obnoxious?” Only in the eye of the beholder.
Illegal Immigrants Have Made It Perfectly Clear Their Disdain For America,Its Laws,Its Assimilation Process,And Its Citizens.It Amazes Me How Many That Want To Give Amnesty,Or evenA Pathway To Citizenship,To Those Who Have Made It ClearThat Anyone That Refuses To Allow Them To Break Our Laws,And Sovereignty,Murder,Rape,Traffic,And Pillage Thevllage,Is A Racist.(Political Correctness)As for jobs No one else will do?Answer;Welfare Back To Work Programs.Why Do We Continue To Give Rights,Power,And Privilages,To Those Who Want To Transform,Or Destroy All That Makes America Great,Independent,And Free.From Illegal Immigration,Education,Our Culture,To Our Military;Jimmy Joe/”The Liarfryer”
Mr. Navarrette repeats the half-truth, “a guest worker program that brings in foreign laborers to do jobs Americans won’t do, …” without adding “at the low wages caused by foreign laborers.”
Foreign workers effectively outsource their families’ living expenses to the Third World. American workers, who endure the high costs of living in the United States, require a higher wage to support their families. At some point, the American worker cannot compete. This happened to my brother in the southern California construction industry in the early 1980s.
Of course, the real solution is to lower the cost structure of the United States. A good start would be to reduce taxes, de-fang the regulators, and neuter the tort bar. Americans should be in the business of creating business, rather than worrying about what regulation they may be transgressing.
Can someone explain to me why we need any immigration law reform other than enforcing what we have? We sure don’t need any more amnesty. Look how well that worked the first time. Sanctuary states and sanctuary cities need to be cured of their law breaking ways. Enforce the border. That’s the only reform that I think we need.
The current system isn’t working right. Employers have this incredibly large incentive to hire illegals, they work cheap, they don’t have to pay taxes and if the illegals speak up about work conditions or pay, kick them out of the factory and get a new batch. Its a perfect system.
As long as these companies have access to this labor force without repercussions, there will always be immigrants coming here.
How do you think those companies first got the idea that they could hire illegals to easily?
THE GOVERNMENT DOESN’T DO ANYTHING TO REMOVE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.
The government needs to come down hard on illegals, cut them out of here, stop them getting there free money and having the damn anchor babies.
That still doesn’t address the problem of the government not punishing companies for hiring illegals instead of real citizens. For example, 20/20 did an expose on a meat packing plant in Nebraska. They found that the company would help get forged documents for illegal immigrants, just to save a buck. After this discovery the company was levied a small fine, and yet the went back to the usual practice.
The problem is that we have unrealistic minimum wage jobs. Employers can’t hire someone at that price, so they don’t and if they absolutely need employees, they hire illegals. No mandatory SS payments, no minimum wage.
There are no jobs Americans won’t do. There are Americans priced out of the labor market.
Legislating the minimum wage is like legislating a minimum mandatory amount of sunshine for the country. It sounds nice; no one is against it; and it’s actually impossible to fulfill. I wish politicians would understand economics IS science.
SECURE.THE.BORDER.FIRST.
Then maybe we can talk about “comprehensive” immigration reform, which is just leftspeak for amnesty.
Funny you don’t mention that nearly every democrat is literally salivating at legalizing all those tens of millions of Undocumented Future Democratic Voters of America. No matter how much the Republicans vie for the Latino vote, they will never be able out-pander the Democratic Party, who have taken the art of creating dependency on government with taxpayer money to unheard of levels of sophistication. They’ve had over seventy years of practice since FDR.
Nor is it anywhere in your article that the SEIU has admitted that a significant minority of its membership is already comprised of illegals. How much of this union “opposition” is for just show, as they also salivate over the influx of Undocumented Future Dues Paying Members of America?
And lastly, any “comprehensive” immigration reform had better include language outlawing this idiotic “anchor baby” loophole that bizarrely encourages millions of Latino females to run across the border just before their water breaks so they can qualify for all our social benefits.
Will someone is this forum tell me for God’s sake why in the world, “undocumented”, (illegal) aliens should get a path to citizenship? Really, 12 million people? Just like that? Do you not get that it will only encourage more? There is a baby boom in the Third World. Is it a secret? Our leadership in this country has no more brains than a cat on this issue. Outlaw all immigration, do away with the obsolete ‘anchor baby’ laws and kick out all 12 million illegal aliens. They butt up against our bureaucracy every day. Seize their assets and use them to pay for their own repatriation. Take away rights from people here illegally. Screw the Supreme Court on this one. How in the world is taking away the rights of illegal aliens going to subvert democracy? Having all these people here is a greater danger. Look at the crime and terrorism where none existed before. It ain’t Swedes doing it. Kick ‘em out, keep ‘em out. Let them fix their own living room instead of moving into ours after all the work is done by us racist imperialists.
It didn’t happen when pro-immigration Bush was in the WH, and it’s not going to happen with apathetic Obama is in the WH.
You might want to expand your portfolio of topics, Ruben. Unless you like writing the same columns over and over, because I foresee that for the next two years at the very least.
Unless perhaps other groups who’d like to immigrate to the U.S., such as the Chinese or Africans, get major play. Too bad those areas don’t have a huge border with the U.S., or they might get favorable treatment, too.
Thanks for this article…
Too bad more people who hate undocumented Mexican workers don’t have more curiousity.
Why have the numbers swelled? No immigration law since Johnson has ever been enforced, Our laws do not target the employer, in contrast to Germany’s simple law, “Hiring an illegal immigrant equals jail time for the employer, first offence”. Over time, of course the number of undocumented workers has mushroomed. These people are in a position of no legal rights, extortion and blackmail, unreported for over 40 years, but a reality well-known to Texans in small towns.
Why do these people come to the U.S.? Read Enrique Krauze’s books and articles about the corrupt governments in Latin America, and the desperate state of the non-elite in most of Mexico.
The situation is a Catch-22 as long as desperate people south of the border seek a chance at a decent life, and our laws encourage them to come yet prevent their legal immigration (Read the immigration laws for yourself on the government website).
How do these people thrive on low wages yet save enough to send home to their starving relatives south of the border? A global economy exists, whether the uneducated live here or in other countries. We have become accustomed to a very high living standard and wasteful practices despite our lack of education. Others outside the U.S. value and strive for what prosperity we deem ‘our right’ regardless of our work ethic. The immigrants I know from Mexico are more like the old Americans than the new Americans; they live frugally and save their money, gradually moving up the economic ladder. They also are Christians and family-centered.
emmaliza
And that makes it right then. Let me remind you that for every illegal aliens from Mexico and Latin American countries that violates the law, legal immigrants from all over the world suffer especially in places that have the same problems that Latin America have. What makes it worse is this, illegal immigrants from other countries when deported cannot return while Mexican illegals who are deported have the chance to do it over and over again until they succeed.
Let’s be honest here, the true purpose of immigration reform is not really for the better treatment of legal immigrants and illegals. It’s about giving a free pass for illegal aliens from Mexico to become American citizens for election purposes at the expense of American Citizens, legal immigrants and those people who are following American immigration laws overseas.
Emmaliza, it’s easier to send money to Mexico and leave frugally when you don’t have to pay taxes and the knowledge that if something bad happens, Americans will not only foot the bill, they will have resources from the government and NGOs available to them that are off limits to American citizens and legal immigrants.
And also, the more illegals we allow here, especially from Mexico and other Latin American countries, the more that takes the pressure off their own corrupt governments to take care of their own poor, further entrenching the power of the elites there. If Mexico had to deal with those additional tens of millions that are here now, maybe there’d be another revolution down there, which is sorely needed.
They just dump their criminals and unemployed and uneducated on us. What a nice safety valve we provide for them.
I’m tired of racists like Navarrette, who think people who look like him should get special privileges – in this case, the immunity to break our immigration laws at will. Come back when you put nation ahead of race, you unpatriotic bigot.
You are correct, Ruben finds mass illegal immigration just fine, because they are the same ethnic group. What if China offered us 20 million immigrants. Would Ruben be equally happy about that? You know and I know and everyone knows the answer to that one. Mr Ruben ‘let-them-all-in’ Navarette, would spin so fast, he could power 20 homes, to became Mr ‘Slam-the-doors’ Navarette.
Navaratte is an ‘open borders’ proponent; it seems he holds in high esteem those that sneak into the nation and live like criminals. Why does our immigration policy need ‘reform’? I think it just needs enforcement with stiffer penalties for illegal entry. Guns and clubs would work quite well and they are not particularly expensive.
Ruben; you’ve got DEM talking points down to a T. You mention ‘comprehensive immigration reform’ needing to be accomplished like it’s a foregone conclusion that we are all well aware of.
Sorry, you need to point out the items that make this the case.
I say, once we have Illegal Immigration down to ZERO at out southern border, then we can sit back and look into the specific details of the immigration process and see if there are any pieces really in need of reform.
But before we take any steps, Illegal Aliens need to go down to ZERO.
In reality, it’s just a matter of time before we have al-Qaeda coming across our southern border wearing a sombrero. Our southern border needs to be 100% closed. We need a president in office with the courage to do this. We are severely lacking right now!
How do you think those companies first got the idea that they could hire illegals to easily?
THE GOVERNMENT DOESN’T DO ANYTHING TO REMOVE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.
The government needs to come down hard on illegals, cut them out of here, stop them getting there free money and having anchor babies
It’s interesting that there have been more deportations under Obama than under Bush. There’s only one real solution and that is to remove the incentive for illegals to come here. No jobs; no immigration. But many conservatives who support business interests don’t support strongly penalizing employers who hire illegals.
CBI in #43 has good ideas. The name calling directed towards Ruben Navarette solves no problems.
For those who say deport all illegals (#32), that’s estimated at about 11 or 12 million. How to do that? Last time I checked, the military was rather busy in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Hum. When the republicans were the majority, they didn’t do squat. When the democrats were the majority, they didn’t do squat. All politics is local–the democrats chose to ignore that dictum when it came to Obamacare–a political gift that will keep on giving to democrats as its provisions kick in. I don’t see the republicans going down the same road with the I have a “Dream Act.” Besides, the current status quo satisfies the progressive and internationalist wings of both parties, for whom the moral stench of illegal immigration is a minor trifle, hey Ruben?
Mr. Navarrette, would you agree that the simplest way to reform our laws would be to have Congress simply enact Mexico’s immigration laws, then enforce them strictly?
I would NOT vote out of office any congressperson who voted for that. And I’m sure you and Mexico’s President Calderon or whoever might be president at the time of enactment, would fully approve these reasonable laws.
Ruben Navarrette is a pathetic apologist for “La Raza,” the race.
Let’s speak plainly: For some reason, PJM allows this tripe to be purveyed; it is nonsense and let me be very plain Mr. Navarrette: ANY sort of amnesty will never be tried because there will be pervasive civil unrest. We do not want, and we do not need, poor, uneducated people from failed societies, who are causing, and will cause, our society to fail also.
Mr. Navarrette: Lead a democratic revolution in the feudal societies of Latin America……and LEAVE OUR COUNTRY ALONE…….PERIOD!!!
My eyeballs hit the floor when I saw the name of the wretched Ruben Navarette on this site. PJM, what the H are you doing, giving the podium to this odious, self-sanctifying chronic misrepresenter of the truth?
My local paper prints his column occasionally, and I have thereby learned to avoid him like the plague.
Don,I think him turn u down hhbeehe
First, lets top talking about “Hispanics.” Lets be honest for a change and say “Mexicans” because thats who we are really taking about. The open borders La Raza types could give a rat’s behind about Hondurans, Nicaraguans, et al. And frankly most Central Americans don’t much like Mexicans anyway, they are brutal to border crossers into southern Mexico.
Second Mr. Navarette basically speaks for La Raza so anything he espouses is not in the best interest of this country.
Third, Mr. Navarette apparently fails to grasp the difference between the Republicans of 1986 and the batch of conservatives elected this time around. I think we are more likely to see a rigid crackdown on businesses hiring illegals from the 2010 conservatives than we are to see pandering to La Raza in hopes of buying votes sat the cost of America.
Enforce existing law before any crazy talk of “fixing” the system. NO AMNESTY!
Also, are the 10 illegal aliens mis-using my social security number ever going to face a day in court for stealing and using it? Not with this 2 different systems of “justice” within our country.
Immigration Reform is deporting everyone who is here illegally.
oh, another Navarette article. not gonna read it since I already know the gist of the article – amnesty for illegal aliens using fallacious arguments.
PJM, while I accept that you want to show some semblance of “fair and balance,” does it have to articles from someone who can’t write about anything else except illegal aliens’ amnesty? it’s getting very old!
I think the GOP should push to solve this stupid problem once and for all. Secure the border, get those in the country illegally to register for renewable visas or be deported if caught, set up sensible standards for both skilled and unskilled immigrants to help our country as needed and speed up citizenship for those who have tried to do the right thing.
My dad was an immigrant and really made the most of the US and offered a lot to the country. Those who should be fined or punished are those in government who have failed to solve this simple problem that has been dealt with by all governments since countries began to form. It is an old problem not a new one.
Don’t think so, but then I actually checked the voting position of those voted in. Most are committed to immigration enforcement without amnesty. In fact I expect to see the House pushing and passing a few bills to make it more difficult for illegal immigrants in this country. Perhaps a bill specifically supporting voter id as a citizens right measure, a bill further encouraging employers to use E-verfiy and bills requring different departments to work with ICE in enforcing immigration laws.
That would of course put the Senate Democrats and those few Senate Republicans that have long pushed laxness in immigration enforcement on the hot seat given that elections are only two years away for quite a few of them.
We will remember, yes, we will.
rueben navarrette has been writing the same column for years now. maybe he should have taken a journalism class instead of basket weaving 101.
It’s a bit surprising that the Ruben would have the temerity to post such speculative drivel. Oh, but he proports to have a scoop from, of all places, the most inhospitiable of barron no-go zones in the nativist camp – PHOENIX ARIZONA – where he consulted with the statesmanesqe oracle on all things immigration – BILL RICHARDSON.
Must have been a journalistic meeting of the highest importance to break the boycott dictates that all right [left actually] thinking peoples remain committed to as punishment for the racists of AZ…
Why just a few months before the election the very same Bill Richardson was dis-inviting our Governor Brewer when it came to hosting the Mexican border govs in the annual yearly shindig… but that was just politics I suppose.
Now he is interested in what is ‘best for the country.’
So Ruben is trying to sell that this same Bill Richardson, who had to recuse himself from consideration in Obama’s cabinate as Commerce Secretary due to corruption investigations including himself & his own inlaws, has somehow garnered insider info on a pending ‘break through’ on the immigration issue in this lame duck congress…????
And if your in a buying mood for that I have got a great land deal on a gold mine in Yuma folks ….just this way…and don’t forget your checkbooks!
All we heard about this election cycle was that the ‘sleeping giant’ – the proposed 20-30% HISPANIC VOTE – was about to finally make its oft rumored appearance. Yet it only manifested itself in three venues of import – one no surprise – where Ruben himself hails – namely california.
The only other two places where this vote ment squat was Nevada – where it was as much about unionism and the thugs ability to get a mobilized force out – and Colorado.
In reality, besides being term limited out of office, Bill Richardson is a has-been spent dolt who barely gets an occassional appearance on Joy Behar. To the credit of prosecutors in both New Mexico and Washington he’s had to spend a great deal of his ill gotten gains plundered during his time in office on lawyers working to this day on keep his fat ass out of jail.
He’s about as reliable a source as Megan McCain, whose political insights are about at his level.
Just because the Dream Act is getting reissued to dutifully pay off the effort put forth to save Reids hide in the 11th hour doesn’t mean anything has changed of import elsewhere. It’s window dressing in a window that is about to get a dramatic makeover come Obama’s State of the Union.
We are going to get some movement on immigration reform – but the comprehensive aspect is going to leave racialists like Navarrette apoplectic.
All of that ‘soft power’ stuff that Obama was pandering – sending billions in aid to Caulderon and then inviting him here to whine to congress – has left an indelible impression – all of it quite negative.
Besides that Obama choose very badly when he handed this tough issue off to a partisan hack from Chicago like Guiterriz – a bat-@#$% leftist who chose to ally with the most extreme open border types to the extent of having himself handcuffed to the White House gate as media spectacle.
The guy is a toxic loser. The most media exposure your going to see is what you got this past weekend when a never before heard of low level hispanic caucus boob gave Obama a fat lip in a pickup basketball game!
Everything Obama did on this issue was callous political ploys – right down to leaking possible ‘suggestions’ from DHS & ICE employees on how to stop or reverse ‘non-criminal undocumented’ deportations – to the possiblity of Obama using executive order signings.
As for the premis that there is some motivation among conservatives – ie to please the US chamber or business interests – the economy alone calls for the exact opposite – FURTHER DEPORTATIONS rather labor imports.
What is in order, and in keeping with the low growth and reeling money markets issues – is to ENCOURAGE AMERICAN CORPORATIONS TO REPATRIATE ITS OVER SEAS CAPITAL – Mexico particularly – given the lousy economic and political problems there.
That is one of several economic moves this upcoming conservative majority will pursue – with or without Obama’s blessing – while they continue to bat his big ears with his do-nothing trade policy.
Face it Ruben – your ‘vision’ of ‘comprehensive reform’ – which in essense was always about codifying the illegal immigration that has dominated California for the past twenty years – that vision is dead. It will never happen, and it wont in particular because of the mess it made of California.
It’s not just the prudent decision of the people of Arizona to reject it. Its the prudent decision of the rest of the country as well.
Like most of the tone deaf liberals who continue to believe Obama that he has just ‘failed at messaging’ rather than America wisely rejecting his policies – your obsession informs and explains your delusional thinking.
It’s not about race. It’s about economics and national security. And the American people get it.
For all,like it or not.Who need any kind of legalization?Look at the bright side,Illegals don’t have 99 weeks benefits when they are fired,but they can make 10 babies,that’s huge money and food for so long,I’m crieing,got none,they don’t pay taxes,I got 500.000 in my mattress,I’m so happy,no family to burn it, so, why they’re crieing? Ingratitude,because all of u,love them,God knows..
The real racists are those Hispanic-Americans who place their race over their country.
I’m have German-English blood within me but I am an American. It’s also amazing how many who so eagerly seek to escape that cesspool of Mexico can’t seem to wait to drag that crappy culture up here.
Hey Ruben, “our immigration system is broken”. What specifically is broken? The current results suck, but is our current immigration system being enforced? The consensus answer to this is ‘no’. How about enforcing current law”?
How would you change the current law to “fix” our immigration system? Basically, all I see, is that you support rewarding the people who’ve “broken” the system by allowing them to stay, confirming their violation of our laws and give them that scrap of paper, American citizenship. Of course, this is an insane course of action.
Ruben, please explain how the Federal will enforce the “new, improved immigration system”, when it wouldn’t enforce the “old, broken system”? Why shouldn’t your “reform” start a new wave of illegal immigration?
Ruben Navarrette is an example of third world thinking, I can’t imagine why Pajamas Media affords him space. He represents a diseased, backwards mindset that illustrates why Latin America is a cesspool, and has not moved beyonds it’s regressive, old world basis. There is nothing American about him.
“Comprehensive Reform”
Beware whenever you see that catch phrase.
As with all of the “comprehensive” bills put forth by Democrats, they seek to accomplish YEARS worth of what should be gradual implementation – BY THE NUMBERS – in one fell swoop and expect it to be done overnight because they said so.
Divide the issues involved and address them all separately.
Oh, and begin by securing the border. That is logical, so don’t expect it to happen any time soon because, you see, Republicans are against “comprehensive reform”. And so it goes …
Rocketman ~(Ä)~
Fahagen (#2) had it right. Two related actions are needed: (1) enforce current laws against illegal aliens; and (2) make it easier for people to immigrate legally. (I’d also favor some sort of temporary worker provision as well.)
Although Mr. Navarette decried the proposed Vitter amendment in 2007, which would have prevented giving visas to current illegal aliens, there is good reason to suppose that, had his amendment passed, then the entire bill would also have passed.
By having more sensible (i.e., meeting the needs of the United States) immigration and foreign-worker laws, while enforcing laws against illegal immigration, we can maintain a respect for the rule of law — currently lacking — while allowing people willing to seek and to work for a better life *as Americans*.
The modern GOP and the word “reform” don’t exactly go together. If your door has a squeaky hinge you want fixed, they’ll more likely end up installing a new kitchen and accidentally killing your neighbor’s dog, and you will end up with two squeaky hinges.
We better take a real long and hard look at where this country is heading to, the situation it is in now, and where we expect to be in the future as compared to where we want to be.
Current immigration levels are not sustainable given the obligations of the US nationally and internationally.