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Thread ID: 3996 | Posts: 7 | Started: 2002-12-13
2002-12-13 13:36 | User Profile
Bush's Alien Guest-Worker Program Looming (URGENT ACTION NEEDED)
[International Politics] from Project USA's "Operation Time-Out"
Permanent status must be resisted at all costs. The U.S. population is already set to double within the lifetimes of today's children thanks to our profligate immigration policies. We certainly don't need to be importing permanent workers on top of the already staggering numbers. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration and many in Congress -- primarily Democrats -- will be tempted to back a permanent status component in a guest worker program for ethnically calculated political reasons...
Guest worker program looming Issue 135-4h, Dec 12, 2002
== TIME-OUT PROJECT ==
When Congress convenes in January it is almost certain that legislators will finally have to address America's fiercely criticized immigration policies.
Clearly, the status quo is untenable. More than 11 million foreign nationals now reside with impunity illegally in the United States. Hundreds of foreigners die on our southern border every year attempting an illegal crossing. Armed citizen militia movements are forming to enforce immigration law. And, waiting in the wings, the nearly 5 billion who live in countries poorer than Mexico present an enormous political and security challenge. Across the political spectrum, consensus demands something be done.
It is very likely that the Congressional response to the political demand will be a guest worker program. Many policy-makers (and opinion leaders) believe that a guest worker program is the best way to balance political realities with the economic interests of those who profit by cheap foreign labor.
Business leaders will oppose any aspect of a guest-worker program that might drive up labor costs, but will ultimately support the idea, taking comfort in the fact that once a market-driven immigration policy has been institutionalized, it will thereafter be relatively easy to increase periodically the size of the guest worker program in order to meet future business "needs."
However, ethnic-identity pressure groups see a guest worker program as a backdoor way to import more of "their people," and will push very hard to make sure any guest worker program includes eventual permanent residence for the workers.
Permanent status must be resisted at all costs. The U.S. population is already set to double within the lifetimes of today's children thanks to our profligate immigration policies. We certainly don't need to be importing permanent workers on top of the already staggering numbers. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration and many in Congress -- primarily Democrats -- will be tempted to back a permanent status component in a guest worker program for ethnically calculated political reasons.
It would be good, of course, if there were no guest worker program at all; in a perfect world, the United States would simply enforce existing immigration law, reduce legal immigration to sustainable levels, and reassess immigration policy in light of the long-term consequences for all, rather than the short-term economic benefits for a few.
However, these policies are still some way off, and immigration moderates should recognize that, unless there is another 9/11, a guest worker program is going to be introduced in the next Congress (at least 2 are already being written). Furthermore, some kind of program will very likely pass. So, the question for immigration realists is not whether to support guest worker programs, the question is how to ensure that the new program is an improvement over the status quo, rather than a deterioration of it.
In July 2001, ProjectUSA published a list of conditions that any guest worker plan must include if it is to be fair, humane, workable, politically feasible, and an improvement over the status quo. It included:
=> Management. A new tamper-proof identification card must be devised that includes a biometric identifier, and an easily accessible national databank must be created through which employers could check the legal status of potential employees.
=> Enforcement. To ensure the integrity of the program, local law enforcement must be given the training and resources necessary to assist an overwhelmed INS (or its successor).
=> Time limits. Temporary foreign workers must be limited to a six-month stint, and then they must return to their homes and families for a period of at least six months in order to give someone else a chance to use the program.
=> Required savings. Twenty percent of the workers' salaries while they work in the United States must be set aside in a special account collectible only upon return to their country of citizenship.
=> Health care. U.S. employers who use temporary foreign workers must provide them with health insurance.
=> Anchor babies. The misinterpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment, which grants automatic citizenship to babies born in the United States to temporary workers, illegal aliens, and tourists, must not apply to guest workers (as it likewise does not apply to the children of foreign diplomats).
=> Proper sequence. In order to avoid encouraging and rewarding illegal immigration, the temporary foreign worker program must contain a start-up phase that would limit use of the program only to those illegal immigrants already in the country.
These reasonable conditions would enjoy widespread political support. Additional provisions could mandate that employers provide transportation to and from the home country, and that workers be unaccompanied by family members. Strict oversight could ensure workers were not being exploited or abused. And, in order to prevent the undercutting of American workers, wages could be tied to prevailing wages in other industries not using foreign labor.
As we wrote in the summer of 2001, "We can expect the ethnic identity and cheap labor special interest lobbies to fight this sensible, fair, and politically palatable solution. But if they do, they will only expose their motives as unrelated to humane solutions or the well-being of the American people."
url: [url=http://www.sianews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=430]http://www.sianews.com/modules.php?name=Ne...article&sid=430[/url]
2002-12-13 17:20 | User Profile
Ugh. The Democrats' immigration policy is treasonous. But the Republicans' compounds treason with stupidity. Bush actually seems to think that the Mestizos will vote Republican because the Republicans were nice enough to let them into the country, and because Bush speaks Spanish.
2002-12-15 06:23 | User Profile
Hereward,
Well they are the Stupid Party!
The Democrats' immigration policy is treasonous. But the Republicans' compounds treason with stupidity.-Hereward
Or maybe they are Stupid-Evil Party?
2002-12-29 22:13 | User Profile
I just heard on the news that Bush is planning to make Mexican workers, including those here illegally, eligible for social security.
Currently there are agreements with about 50 other nations, for which the Social Security Administration pays out each year $150 million to foreign nationals who have worked here but now reside in their native lands.
A Mexican agreement will cost billions of dollars annually.
-Z-
2002-12-30 16:08 | User Profile
Originally posted by Zoroaster@Dec 29 2002, 17:13 ** A Mexican agreement will cost billions of dollars annually. **
Are there that many legally working here paying into SS? What I'm waiting for is Jorge to decide that illegals working here whose employers are not paying their coerced 'contribution' to SS are entitled to claim what should have been paid in.
2002-12-30 18:51 | User Profile
Amundsen,
The news item was a short Fox News thing by a Newsbabe I'd never seen before. It did not go into much detail so I can't answer your questions. It's not something the Establishment wants known. I doubt we will hear anymore about it, unless someone like Tancredo brings it up.
-Z-
2002-12-31 00:18 | User Profile
Here's the link: [url=http://www.pittsburghfirst.com/World/20021219mexico1219p3.asp]http://www.pittsburghfirst.com/World/20021...exico1219p3.asp[/url] Read it and gag...