Border Agents have been instructed to ask one out of every five illegal
aliens they catch if they were aware of Bush's proposed guest worker program and
if it motivated them to come, the Tucson Citizen newspaper recently reported.
The daily said a citizen border watchdog group, Civil Homeland Defense, believes it
already has seen an effect from the announcement. The group caught 85 people entering the
country illegally last weekend, said founder Chris Simcox.
Most comments were, What's the problem? President Bush said it was OK.
Border Patrol agents are totally demoralized.
Well over 10 Million Illegal Aliens who crossed our border are referred to as UNDOCUMENTED
ALIENS in Bush's speech below. The Presidents proposal will cause millions more to sneak
in ILLEGALLY. Expect more TERRORISTS to benefit from his plan. Up to 20% of U.S. social
services and medical care is being sucked up by Illegals now and Bush thinks there is room
for more? There was no mention for - An Increase in the Minimum Wage- Legal
Americans would then want the jobs. Restaurants, Landscapers, Farm Co-ops and
other businesses lobby hard and donate big to political campaigns including Bush's. They
continue to raise prices for consumers, raise their salaries and profits, while not
raising salaries. The path is clear. If George W continues to ignore the illegals
and terrorists crossing our borders, especially since the 911 terrorist attack he will
lose "the whole enchelada" - meaning the next election. Warriors Editorial
comment
George Bush's
immigration speech Jan 7, 2004
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF
THE UNITED STATES: Thank you all for coming. Thanks for coming. Thanks for the warm
welcome. Thanks for joining me as I make this important announcement, an announcement that
I believe will make America a more compassionate, more humane and stronger country. I
appreciate members of my Cabinet who have joined me today, starting with our secretary of
state, Colin Powell.
(APPLAUSE)
I appreciate the members of citizen groups who've joined us today, chairman of the
Hispanic Alliance For Progress, Mani Luhan (ph); Gil Moreno, the president and CEO of the
Association for the Advancement of Mexican-Americans; Roberta Deposada, the president of
the Latino Coalition; and Hector Flores, the president of LULAC.
Thank you all for joining us.
(APPLAUSE)
Many of you here today are Americans by choice, and you have followed in the path of
millions. And over the generations, we have received energetic, ambitious, optimistic
people from every part of the world.
By tradition and conviction, our country is a welcoming society. America is a stronger and
better nation because of the hard work and the faith and the entrepreneurial spirit of
immigrants.
Every generation of immigrants has reaffirmed the wisdom of remaining open to the talents
and dreams of the world. And every generation of immigrants has reaffirmed our ability to
assimilate newcomers, which is one of the defining strengths of America.
During one great period of immigration, between 1891 and 1920, our nation received some 18
million men, women and children from other nations.
BUSH: The hard work of these immigrants helped make our economy the largest in the world.
The children of immigrants put on the uniform and helped to liberate the lands of their
ancestors.
One of the primary reasons America became a great power in the 20th century is because we
welcomed the talent and the character and the patriotism of immigrant families.
The contributions of immigrants to America continue. About 14 percent of our nation's
civilian workforce is foreign born. Most begin their working lives in America by taking
hard jobs and clocking long hours in important industries. Many immigrants also start
businesses, taking the familiar path from hired labor to ownership.
As a Texan, I have known many immigrant families, mainly from Mexico, and I've seen what
they add to our country. They bring to America the values of faith in God, love of family,
hard work, and self-reliance; the values that made us a great nation to begin with.
We've all seen those values in action through the service and sacrifice of more than
35,000 foreign-born men and women currently on active duty in the United States military.
One of them is Master Gunnery Sergeant Guadalupe Denogean, an immigrant from Mexico, who
has served in the Marine Corps for 25 years and counting.
Last year, I was honored and proud to witness Sergeant Denogean take the oath of
citizenship in a hospital where he was recovering from wounds he received in Iraq.
BUSH: I'm honored to be his commander in chief. I'm proud to call him "fellow
American."
(APPLAUSE)
As a nation that values immigration and depends on immigration, we should have immigration
laws that work and make us proud. Yet today we do not.
Instead we see many employers turning to the illegal labor market, we see millions of
hardworking men and women condemned to fear and insecurity in a massive, undocumented
economy.
Illegal entry across our borders makes more difficult the urgent task of securing
the homeland. The system is not working. Our nation needs an immigration system that
serves the American economy and reflects the American dream.
Reform must begin by confronting a basic fact of life and economics: Some of the jobs
being generated in America's growing economy are jobs American citizens are not filling.
Yet these jobs represent a tremendous opportunity for workers from abroad who want to work
and to fulfill their duties as a husband or a wife, a son or a daughter.
Their search for a better life is one of the most basic desires of human beings. Many
undocumented workers have walked mile after mile, through the heat of the day and the cold
of the night. Some have risked their lives in dangerous desert border crossings or
entrusted their lives to the brutal rings of heartless human smugglers.
BUSH: Workers who seek only to earn a living end up in the shadows of American life,
fearful, often abused and exploited.
When they're victimized by crimes they're afraid to call the police or seek recourse in
the legal system. They are cut off from their families far away, fearing if they leave our
country to visit relatives back home they might never be able to return to their jobs.
The situation I described is wrong. It is not the American way.
Out of common sense and fairness, our laws should allow willing workers to enter our
country and fill jobs that Americans are not filling.
(APPLAUSE)
We must make our immigration laws more rational and more humane. And I believe we can do
so without jeopardizing the livelihoods of American citizens.
Our reforms should be guided by a few basic principles.
First, America must control its Open
borders.
Following the attacks of September the 11th, 2001, this duty of the federal government has
become even more urgent, and we're fulfilling that duty.
For the first time in our history we have consolidated all border agencies under one roof,
to make sure they share information and the work is more effective.
We're matching all visa applicants against an expanded screening list to identify
terrorists and criminals and immigration violators.
This month we have become using advanced technology to better record and track aliens who
enter our country and to make sure they leave as scheduled.
BUSH: We have deployed new gamma and X-ray systems to scan cargo and containers and
shipments at ports of entry to America.
We have significantly expanded the Border Patrol with more than 1,000 new agents on the
borders and 40 percent greater funding over the last two years. We're working closely with
the Canadian and Mexican governments to increase border security.
America is acting on a basic belief: Our borders should be open to legal travel and honest
trade; our borders should be shut and barred tight to criminals, to drug traders, drug
traffickers and to criminals and to terrorists.
Second, new immigration laws should serve the economic needs of our country. If an
American employer is offering a job that American citizens are not willing to take, we
ought to welcome into our country a person who will fill that job.
Third, we should not give unfair rewards to illegal immigrants in the citizenship process
or disadvantage those who came here lawfully or hope to do so.
Fourth, new laws should provide incentives for temporary foreign workers to return
permanently to their home countries after their period of work in the United States has
expired.
Today I ask the Congress to join me in passing new immigration laws that reflect these
principles that meet America's economic needs and live up to our highest ideals.
(APPLAUSE)
I propose a new temporary worker program that will match willing foreign workers with
willing American employers when no Americans can be found to fill the jobs.
BUSH: This program will offer legal status as temporary workers to the millions of
undocumented men and women now employed in the United States and to those in foreign
countries who seek to participate in the program and have been offered employment here.
This new system should be clear and efficient so employers are able to find workers
quickly and simply.
All who participate in the temporary worker program must have a job or, if not living in
the United States, a job offer. The legal status granted by this program will last three
years and will be renewable, but it will have an end. Participants who do not remain
employed, who do not follow the rules of the program or who break a law will not be
eligible for continued participation and will be required to return to their home.
Under my proposal, employers have key responsibilities. Employers who extend job offers
must first make every reasonable effort to find an American worker for the job at hand.
Our government will develop a quick and simple system for employers to search for American
workers.
Employers must not hire undocumented aliens or temporary workers whose legal status has
expired. They must report to the government the temporary workers they hire and who leave
their employ so that we can keep track of people in the program and better enforce our
immigration laws. There must be strong workplace enforcement with tough penalties for
anyone -- for any employer violating these laws.
Undocumented workers now here will be required to pay a one-time fee to register for the
temporary worker program. Those who seek to join the program from abroad and have complied
with our immigration laws will not have to pay any fee.
All participants will be issued a temporary worker card that will allow them to travel
back and forth between their home and the United States without fear of being denied
re-entry into our country.
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: This program expects temporary workers to return permanently to their home countries
after their period of work in the United States has expired, and there should be financial
incentives for them to do so.
I will work with foreign governments on a plan to give temporary workers credit when they
enter their own nation's retirement system for the time they have worked in America.
I also support making it easier for temporary workers to contribute a portion of their
earnings to tax-preferred savings accounts, money they can collect as they return to their
native countries. After all, in many of these countries a small nest egg is what is
necessary to start their own business or buy some land for their family.
Some temporary workers will make the decision to pursue American citizenship. Those who
make this choice will be allowed to apply in the normal way. They will not be given unfair
advantage over people who have followed legal procedures from the start.
I opposed amnesty, placing undocumented workers on the automatic path to citizenship.
Granting amnesty encourages the violation of our laws and perpetuates illegal immigration.
America's a welcoming country, but citizenship must not be the automatic reward for
violating the laws of America.
(APPLAUSE)
The citizenship line, however, is too long, and our current limits on legal immigration
are too low.
My administration will work with the Congress to increase the annual number of green cards
that can lead to citizenship.
BUSH: Those willing to take the difficult path of citizenship, the path of work and
patience and assimilation, should be welcome in America, like generations of immigrants
before them.
(APPLAUSE)
In the process of immigration reform, we must also set high expectations for what new
citizens should know. An understanding of what it means to be an American is not a
formality in the naturalization process, it is essential to full participation in our
democracy.
My administration will examine the standard of knowledge in the current citizenship test.
We must ensure that new citizens know not only the facts of our history, but the ideals
that have shaped our history.
Every citizen of America has an obligation to learn the values that make us one nation:
liberty and civic responsibility, equality under God, tolerance for others.
This new temporary worker program will bring more than economic benefits to America. Our
homeland will be more secure when we can better account for those who enter our country.
Instead of the current situation, in which millions of people are unknown, unknown to the
law, law enforcement will face fewer problems with undocumented workers, and will be
better able to focus on the true threats to our nation from criminals and terrorists.
And when temporary workers can travel legally and freely, there will be more efficient
management of our borders and more effective enforcement against those who pose a true
threat to our country.
(APPLAUSE)
This new system will be more compassionate. Decent, hardworking people will now be
protected by labor laws, with the right to change jobs, earn fair wages and enjoy the same
working conditions that the law requires for American workers.
BUSH: Temporary workers will be able to establish their identities by obtaining the legal
documents that we all take for granted. And they will be able to talk openly to
authorities to report crimes when they're harmed without the fear of being deported.
(APPLAUSE)
The best way in the long run to reduce the pressures that create illegal immigration in
the first place is to expand economic opportunity among the countries in our neighborhood.
In a few days I will go to Mexico for the Special Summit of the Americas, where we will
discuss ways to advance free trade and to fight corruption and encourage the nations of
our hemisphere will lessen the flow of new immigrants to America when more citizens of
other countries are able to achieve their dreams at their own home.
(APPLAUSE)
Yet our country has always benefited from the dreams that others have brought here. By
working hard for a better life immigrants contribute to the life of our nation.
The temporary worker program I am proposing today represents the best tradition of our
society, a society that honors the law and welcomes the newcomer.
This plan will help return order and fairness to our immigration system, and in so doing
we will honor our values by showing our respect for those who work hard and share in the
ideals of America.
May God bless you all.
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