Think the GOP is tough on immigration?
Here are some Dem talking points:
From
The Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/18/AR2006061800613.html
WASHINGTON--The Bush administration, which is vowing to crack down on U.S. companies that hire illegal workers, virtually abandoned such employer sanctions before it began pushing to overhaul U.S. immigration laws last year, government statistics show.
Between 1999 and 2003, worksite enforcement operations were scaled back 95 percent by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which subsequently was merged into the Homeland Security Department. The number of employers prosecuted for unlawfully employing immigrants dropped from 182 to four, and fines collected declined from $3.6 million to $212,000, according to federal statistics.
So the GOP wants to talk about immigration. Bring it on!!
I should state that I am NOT an immigration hawk.
I think it is a manufactured crisis. As I understand it, there are fewer illegal immigrants entering the USA today than before Sept. 11, 2001.
But I know it is a hot button issue.
Especially in some states.
What I am waiting for, is when the wingnuts start ranting against the gay, flag-burning illegal immigrants.
Now when they start waving THAT bloody flag, I think they will be close to surrender.
more from WaPo ... and GET THIS:
In 1999, the United States initiated fines against 417 companies. In 2004, it issued fine notices to three.
Holy shit! Now THIS administration is really on top of this issue!
The government's steady retreat from workplace enforcement in the 20 years since it became illegal to hire undocumented workers is the result of fierce political pressure from business lobbies, immigrant rights groups and members of Congress, according to law enforcement veterans. Punishing employers also was de-emphasized as the government recognized that it lacks the tools to do the job well, and as the Department of Homeland Security shifted resources to combat terrorism.
The administration says it is learning from past failures, switching to a strategy of building more criminal cases, instead of relying on ineffective administrative fines or pinprick raids against individual businesses with outnumbered agents. In its current drive, it is seeking more resources to sanction employers, toughen penalties and finally set up a reliable system--first proposed in 1981--to verify the eligibility of workers. That would allow the government to hold employers accountable for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.
Got to admit, these guys have gonads to claim they are tough on illegal immigration.
But I guess they claim to be deficit hawks too.