AIM Report: Bush Must Control the Borders
BUSH MUST CONTROL THE BORDERS
By Andrew Selepak*
The President continues to promote a dubious "guest worker" program that is based on a claim that has no evidence to back it up, and Bush, at this point in his presidency, has to know it. What's fascinating to watch is how the media, who are extremely tolerant of illegal immigration, refuse to hold Bush accountable for his deceptions on this matter.
The biggest deception—some would call it a lie—is that Americans won't work at certain jobs that have to be filled by illegal aliens, and that it should be U.S. policy to make these illegals into American citizens.
Speaking of jobs Americans won't do, here's one our President won't do—solve the illegal immigration problem. We know what the solution is. It is to control the borders with more border agents and military personnel, erect a fence, and prevent illegal aliens from taking jobs that Americans would do if the illegal aliens were not putting downward pressure on wages and benefits. That requires punishing companies that hire illegals.
Blind To Truth
As a former businessman and self-styled "conservative," the President has to know that capitalism only works when employers are forced to pay higher wages and offer better benefits because of a legitimate shortage of those willing to do the job. How many Americans would turn down a job cleaning toilets if it paid $40-50,000 a year or more? These are not jobs that Americans won't do. These are jobs that most Americans are not willing to take when competing with an illegal immigrant work force that keeps wages and benefits artificially low.
The President seems to be in a state of disbelief about why his party got thumped in the recent elections. In a 25-minute interview in the Oval Office with three Washington Post staff writers, Bush blamed the Republican losses in the mid-term election partly on frustration over Iraq, but also "a sense that people's votes were being taken for granted…ethics disputes, and just a lot of signals that said it's time to—that people wanted a change…you've got a guy using earmarks to enrich himself; there was sex and all kinds of issues that sent the signal that perhaps it was time to give another group a chance to lead."
Bush was partly right. Republicans did feel their "votes were being taken for granted." Republicans lost the mid-term election because they didn't come through on their promises. But one of those promises was to stop illegal immigration, an area in which Bush continues to pursue a failed policy.
It is easy to understand why Bush is glad to be working with a Democratic Party-controlled Congress; it will allow him the opportunity to pass legislation that was not popular with his conservative base, or the majority of Americans: "I view the elections as an opportunity to say to all of us in Washington, 'Let's work together.' People want that. And what are some issues we can work together on—energy, or immigration, budgetary reforms, I mean, there's a lot."
Bush later added, "I gave a comprehensive speech to the country from the Oval Office, prime time, about how I thought we ought to move forward on immigration. I still feel very strongly about that. And I hope that Congress will join me on a comprehensive bill."
Bush's plan is for a massive guest-worker program and virtual amnesty for the 12 to 20 million illegal aliens in this country right now.
Bush went on to claim that, "if you notice from the recent enforcement activities that ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] took, there are a lot of people who are using forged documents to do jobs Americans are not doing. And my attitude is that there ought to be a way for people to come to this country on a temporary basis and fill those jobs in an open way, a transparent way."
The enforcement the President is talking about was the recent sweep of six Swift & Co. meatpacking plants by ICE. In this six-plant sweep, ICE arrested nearly 1,300 illegal immigrants, many of whom are suspected of stealing the identities and Social Security numbers of American workers. So the President was correct, these were 1,300 jobs that "Americans are not doing."
Americans Will Work
But what the President doesn't mention is that Swift is now offering better wages, benefits and bonuses. What's more, local union official Bill Hoppes says that between 40 and 50 new workers have been hired at the Grand Rapids, Colorado plant since the raids, and that "The lion's share of these people were Caucasian." In Greeley, Colorado, where Swift is headquartered, Local 7 union president Ernie Duran said 75 new workers had been hired in a week, including 30 Caucasians, 15 Somalia immigrants, seven Hispanic immigrants, and the rest U.S.-born Hispanics.
United Food and Commercial Workers spokeswoman Jill Cashen told the Associated Press, "To me, it's an example that when you make the job more attractive you get a different kind of applicant." In other words, when wages and benefits are better, there is no job that Americans won't do. This fact completely undercuts the President's argument for his guest-worker/amnesty program.
But Bush deliberately ignores this. Once again trying to sell the guest-worker/ amnesty plan he is hoping to pass with a Democratic Congress, Bush tells the Post, "There is a better way to treat people, and there's a better way to deal with the issue of finding workers Americans are not doing, to fill on a temporary basis. And, therefore, there [sic] need—and that in itself will take pressure off our borders…if people feel like they can come in on a temporary, legal basis, they're not going to have to sneak in…it's a comprehensive reform of the immigration system that is going to make our borders more secure. I strongly believe that is important, and look forward to working with people on the way forward."
Welcome Mat
That's true: Bush's amnesty and guest worker program will temporarily take "pressure off our border" because everyone south of the border who wants in will be welcomed by Bush and the Democrats with American jobs and American services like schools and health care.
This would be the second major amnesty bill passed by the U.S. Government. The first was the Simpson-Mazzoli bill that gave amnesty to illegals in 1986. There were less than five million illegal immigrants in this country then; now there are as many as 20 million. It failed then, and there's no reason to believe it won't fail again.
It looks like Bush and the Democrat House and Senate will propose another amnesty bill, only this time there is no Republican majority in the House to stop it. But what happens to the 20 million illegal immigrants when the amnesty plan is passed by a Democratic Congress? Will these "new Americans" do the jobs that Americans won't do?
Or will we then need to be replaced by 20 million more illegal immigrants?
Bush's fallacious argument is based on the notion that being American makes people too lazy to work jobs in construction, meatpacking, agricultural work, and other labor-intensive occupations. But what happens when the 20 million illegal immigrants are granted amnesty and become Americans? Once the fear of breaking the law is removed from the equation, what is to stop these new Americans from deciding they don't want to do these jobs that other Americans won't do?
Instead, there will be 20 million new Americans who demand higher wages and increased benefits. Wages will go up, benefits will be increased, and either Americans will then take these jobs, leaving millions of "new Americans" out of work, or millions of "new Americans" will keep their jobs at higher wages and join unions, and their wages will go to support union causes and candidates. Amnesty will mean increased wages, benefits and prices, more union members, and 20 million new voters who in all likelihood will be counted on to vote Democratic.
The Bush immigration policy is based on a deception which the Democrats embrace and the media are prepared to overlook.
As reported by Wes Vernon in the AIM Report, the deception appears to be part of a Bush Administration plan to effectively erase U.S. borders and establish a North American Union to facilitate the flow of people and goods from Mexico into the U.S.
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