Control the Border First by Newt Gingrich "Control the border first" ought to be the battle cry of every citizen who is tired of leftwing elites trying to use charges of racism to blackmail us into accepting perpetually unsecured borders and amnesty for millions. "Control the border first" is the legitimate demand of Americans concerned about national security and personal safety. The President, as Commander in Chief, has a constitutional obligation to control the border. However, instead of executing this duty, he has actually blocked the limited efforts of the Bush Administration, stopping the construction of a "virtual fence" until more studies can be done as to its effectiveness. The fact that President Obama refuses to fulfill his national security obligations and instead is trying to arouse public fear and divide the country is a dereliction of duty and a betrayal of his Oath of Office. The left, led by the Obama Administration, is lying about the Arizona immigration bill and attempting to create a new racial divide to prop up the Democratic Party in the election. If the Arizona law established the ethnic profiling and harassment of innocent people as the New York Times and the left describes, virtually every American would oppose it. Yet by 61% to 27%, the American people support Arizona's efforts to eliminate illegality from their communities. There is a deep belief in America that asking people to obey the law and to be law abiding citizens is a legitimate requirement of a free society. Americans overwhelmingly favor legal immigration. We look with pride on first generation immigrants who work hard and make America a better, more prosperous and more interesting country. Americans overwhelmingly support efforts to assimilate first-generation immigrants from virtually every country in the world into learning English, learning American history and earning the right to be good citizens. This has been our national heritage. However, for over 30 years we have been trapped in a deliberate failure by the federal government to do its job to control the border. I went back to the diaries of President Ronald Reagan (The Reagan Diaries, edited by Douglas Brinkley) and found entries beginning in 1981: "Met with Senator Simpson re immigration. He had a great collection of fraudulent S.S. cards, drivers licenses, union cards, etc. -- oh, also phony food stamps. How can we stop this kind of counterfeiting." pp 22, June 1, 1981 "We've lost control of our borders." pp 271, October 9, 1984 "It's high time we regained control of our borders and his bill will do this" (on Simpson's bill) pp 445, October 16, 1986 I voted for and President Reagan signed the Simpson-Mazzoli immigration act of 1986 because we were promised: Control of the border; A practical, viable guest-worker program to offer a legal avenue to economic opportunity; and A tough policy with American employers who broke the law for their own enrichment. In return, the Simpson-Mazzoli Act was supposed to grant amnesty to what was then estimated to be 300,000 people. The total number of people amnestied turned out to be 3 million. Having given amnesty and gotten nothing in return, the American people are increasingly angry about their federal government's failure to do its job. The Arizona law was a reaction to Washington's failure to protect America and keep Americans safe. Consider Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's ad responding to President Obama's dishonest comments. Those who doubt that real border security is possible should consider two border patrol sectors in Arizona: Yuma and Tucson. Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl sent me statistics about these two case studies this weekend. They are proof that the right resources, properly applied, can get the job done. Yuma and Tucson both received more National Guardsmen as part of Operation Jumpstart in 2007, as well as fencing and other technology multipliers. However, Yuma has also robustly applied Operation Streamline, a program where most illegal crossers are prosecuted with either a petty offense or misdemeanor and then sent to jail for somewhere between 15 and 60 days. Both sectors have seen improvement, but much more so in Yuma, with apprehensions dropping from 118,000 in 2006 to 7,000 in 2009. When you can get a 92% reduction in illegal crossings it is clear the border can be controlled. If Washington would do its duty on securing the border first, the country would then consider common-sense reform. Don't blame Arizona. Instead, petition your U.S. House and Senate members to do their job so the Arizona law becomes unnecessary and irrelevant."
Stupid, stupid, stupid... Imagine a scenario where all Americans and American based companies decided not to hire someone because they can't speak English. Imagine a scenario where all Americans refused to hire illegals...no matter how much less money they would personally make. It is typical of the right wing to blame the government for all the problems...because they are terrified of blaming Americans for the mess we are in. They are terrified of attacking their base (the ones who actually hired the illegals). It is a joke. It took the US a long time to come up with money that is difficult to counterfeit. Why is that? Why isn't it easy to get fake green cards, drivers licenses, etc. It is because the demand for cheap illegal labor is stronger than an American sense of duty to their country. Why don't we see Americans boycotting businesses that are known for hiring illegals (food service, lawn services, construction)? Typical Newt blame bullshit...blame the government...when the symptoms of illegals have their cause in Americans putting their own personal profit though hiring of illegals above everything else. Greed is the disease, illegals are the symptom that follows... Classic blame the government. Why? To try and get the republicans back in power in government...the same bunch who did nothing about the problem during Reagan, Bush 1, Bush 2... I wish the people would wake up and see these scumbags like Newt for who they really are. They are not thinking of what is best for America, they never were...they are just lusting to regain power. Bush 2 had 100% control over all branches of government...and what did he and the republicans propose? Amnesty...
Yes, the people who hire the illegals should be "discouraged" from doing so, but, as you point out, fake documents are easy to procure. Yes, Gingrich is right-wing, but the liberals have gone way the other way, grouping immigrants all in the same bucket and refusing to address the core issue here which is illegal immigration, not immigration per se. And, in their love affair with anyone who might give them a boost in power at the polls, even the American flag is viewed as offensive in places like California schools. But, let's come back to immigration. Of course we need to control both sides of the issue, supply and demand. Secure the borders and also strengthen our awareness of, and means of dealing with, where these illegals are, who's bringing them in, and who's hiring them. What makes Gingrich more right than wrong, imo, is that the more we control who's hiring the illegals, the more the mix of who's coming in shifts. We're moving from those who don't mind breaking the law to outright criminals, since the flow of illegals is increasingly controlled by the drug cartels who want their products carried through the border. What many of us know is that when a country is attacked and violated by foreigners who want what the legitimate US residents have, like it's happening now down South, the first thing to do is secure the perimeter, and then clean up what's inside, stop whatever makes others to want to break our laws, etc. But, in the long run, both methods have to work in tandem.
"Yes, the people who hire the illegals should be "discouraged" from doing so." No, the people who hire the illegals are themselves breaking the law (unless you think hiring illegals is lawful) and they should be prosecuted and made examples of for everyone else to see. Stop the insanity of liberals being at fault. The problem is greed, and the solution is not trying to control the supply when the demand is constant. Put down the right wing mantras that cloud the ability to think rationally...
Obviously both policies (going after the illegals and folks who employ them) should be followed. The thing is, the Obama administration has severely curtailed workplace raids as well. So that's not really the choice being offered. Not to say that GWB (or any president since Eisenhower) tried to deal with this problem in any meaningful way.
We need to deal with the symptoms (the illegals) and the cause (the Americans who hire illegals) but we should never think the symptoms are the cause of the problem. Just as in any systemic disease, if the symptoms alone are addressed...and not the cause, the chance for remission is very high. What if all Americans decided not to hire illegals, no matter what it cost them financially? What if all Americans refused to purchase any goods or services produced by illegals? What if the guy who needs his grass cut wouldn't hire anyone who didn't speak English? What if the person who had construction work demanded that the subcontractors and employees show proper work papers, and those work papers were not easily counterfeited?
It would be a start, but typically you hire a contractor and he sends a crew. You don't interview the crew. Anyway, what you are proposing sounds an awful lot like profiling and racial/ethnic discrimination. Surely you're not advocating that? You have to address the whole problem though. One part of it is the anchor baby phenomenon. Has to be changed. Just because a pregnant woman gets across the border and goes to a hospital and has the taxpayers pay for her baby, shouldn't make it an american citizen. Also, the welfare state is a huge draw to the poor immigrant. I hate to be mean-spirited, but we can;t afford to pay for the obligations we have now. We sure as hell can't take on the whole of latin america. Plus, you have to fix the border. Even Sen. Amnesty, john McCain, has flipped on that and now says it has to be secured. obama is more concerned about the Pakistan/Afghanistan border.
I don't know if you have ever used a contractor, but it is not uncommon to say hello and have some interaction with the subs. If the subs don't speak English, or the gophers don't speak English, or if you hear Mexican radio stations, etc. you could demand of the contractor to only hire American labor. It could be put in all contracts with the contractors, that they must use legal employees or sub contractors. The real bottom line here is that we have this situation not because of a failure of government, but because of a failure of Americans to demand legal workers... The republicans are typically very pro business and pro profit...so in the beginning they were more than happy to get the illegals in to increase the profits...cut out the government taxes, OSHA, or whatever they could to increase their own bottom line. Now it is an issue? It always was an issue, just an issue that was ignored until now the symptoms are so bad that they have to be addressed. Put the blame where it rightfully belongs... By the way, I am against the concept and practice of anchor babies being granted US citizenship... If illegals were here under false pretenses, fraud if you will...then in my opinion that negates birth granting citizenship... The border needs to be fixed, but as long as there is a demand, there will be corrupt border patrol agents, etc. to allow the illegals to come in to meet the demand for cheap labor. It is just like drugs...they get in, even though they are not supposed to... When there is money to be made, and when Americans value their own profits over what is right, then we will see violation of the laws...hell, look at Wall Street. So, it is up to the American people to take a stand and just reject any service and/or product that is from illegal labor...period. You do that, and the demand decrease causes the illegals to go home...just as the recession has done.
I know it is off topic, but phenomena is right about drugs. His arguement is the logical solution, in terms of revenue generated, taking the business from the cartels, and individual freedom. How can there be a crime with no victim? I know some posters are worried about their children, but the reality is if they are going to experiment, it doesn't matter if it is legal or not. Also as with booze, it should be illegal for minors. One of the most blatent hypocrises in the US is that at 18 you can be drafted to serve in WAR, yet you can't drink or gamble (in some states)? You are responsible enough to take another man's LIFE, but you can't be trusted with your own body? That is pretty outrageous BS. BTW not everyone that has done drugs becomes an addict. I know this for a fact, and I am willing to bet that it is a small % of people that actually become addicted (depends on the substance). I think that many"addicts" are frauds anyway, because not all substances are PHYSICALLY addictive, so they are full of shit making excuses for themselves. I do know a few real junkies, and they are almost impossible to help.
Yes, but fake documents are easy to procure, so actually proving that the people KNEW they were hiring illegals becomes pretty difficult, which is why they are rarely prosecuted in the first place. Of course, you'd have to have an IQ of over 90 or so to realize this. LOL. "Stop the insanity" LOL! Could it be any more obvious that this guy is an ankle grabber?