W is giving/gave a speech regarding border controls.

Thoughts about this subject?

It's a national security issue, not a smelly Mexican issue.

I don't want terrorists walking across the border at will. I really and truly could care less about Mexicans, Carribeans what have you coming into this country. I would hope their countrys of origin could advance economically enough to make wetbacking less of an attractive option, but they have no incentive. If illegals send back cash to their families, that's more money in the foreign country that people are spending.

Rambling thoughts, but yeah. Stronger border security for the sake of national security.

I'm for secure, but open borders.

I believe that anyone who wants to come to the US should be able to. They should be able to compete in the market like anyone else. obviously non-citizens shouldn't be able to vote, but that's all I can think of to limit them.

Everyone should be documented. Period.

Oh wait, that's "hate speech"

This is an issue Bush campaigned on in '96 AND AGAIN in '00 and hasn't done jack shit about.

This is all about playing to the conservative base, and I bet once again he does nothing substantial.

Originally posted by homechicago
W is giving/gave a speech regarding border controls.


WACO, Texas -

President Bush is trying to build support for a comprehensive immigration strategy — and mollify conservatives wary of his guest worker plan for foreigners — even though Congress has shelved the issue for now.

Republican congressional leaders have postponed work on immigration proposals until early next year, partly because lawmakers are divided over the scope of such changes and whether foreigners illegally working in the United States should be allowed to stay.

The president was leaving his Crawford, Texas, ranch after spending nearly a week there for Thanksgiving, to pitch his plan in Tucson, Ariz., on Monday, and El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday. The border states are home to GOP senators who have been vocal on the need to change immigration laws but who aren't entirely sold on Bush's vision.

The president's plan pairs a guest worker program for foreigners with border security enforcement, an attempt to satisfy both his business supporters, who believe foreign workers help the economy, and his conservative backers, who take a hard line on illegal immigration.

In Tucson, the president planned to aim his remarks at those conservatives, emphasizing his proposals to secure the border, remove people who enter the country illegally and strengthen enforcement of immigration laws.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., asked Bush in a letter Monday to encourage bipartisan and realistic reforms to immigration laws.

"Enforcement alone does not work. Unless we address the gap between our immigration laws and reality, illegal immigration will not stop and the situation on the border will continue to be chaotic," Reid said.

The Democrat implored Bush to "stand up to the right wing of your party and stand up for what is right" by taking more than an enforcement-only approach to illegal immigration.

The president's two-day push on border security and immigration comes a month after Bush signed a $32 billion homeland security bill for 2006 that contains large increases for border protection, including 1,000 additional Border Patrol agents.

Bush has been urging Congress to act on a guest worker program for more than a year. Under his plan, undocumented aliens would be allowed to get three-year work visas. They could extend that for an additional three years, but would then have to return to their home countries for a year to apply for a new work permit.

The guest worker program has met some resistance in Congress, where several bills on the issue have been introduced.

Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., along with Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass., has proposed providing illegal aliens in the United States visas for up to six years. After that, they must either leave the United States or be in the pipeline for a green card, which indicates lawful permanent residency.

Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., support an alternative proposal that would require illegal aliens to return to their home country to apply for a temporary worker program.

Senate GOP leaders plan to take up legislation early next year that will address a guest worker program. Their counterparts in the House have indicated they want to take up border security first and then move to a guest worker program.

While in Arizona on Monday, the president also planned to attend a fund-raiser in Phoenix for Kyl as campaigning for next year's congressional elections gets under way.

Originally posted by Nimrod's Son
Everyone should be documented. Period.


there's more but i can't articulate it at this time. maybe later but probably not.