So I just sat through a mercifully short Presidential "Primetime" speech on the immigration debate. Any East Coast people pissed because Bush stepped on the season finally of Prison Break? I think they are finally getting out of prison tonight.
As far as Presidential immigration proposals go, I'm sorting the stupid from the merely difficult. For putting the National Guard on the boarder, the first time I heard this idea it came from Bill O'Rielly, thus I'm going to assume it’s a stupid idea. The Guard can't actually arrest anybody and it seems to me that the Guard is pretty tied up with the Iraq war thing. That idea stinks of a PR stunt.
Also stupid is the guest worker program proposal. We really think that people are going to come to this country to work for six years, put down roots, and then go home? That's looking around Europe, finding the worse immigration policy you can find, and making it your own.
The merely difficult policy is the "amnesty" or "path to citizenship" part. What are we going to do about the undocumented workers that are here already? What makes this so difficult is that Bush is split down the middle on this issue. He must balance the brutish, ugly, talk-radio part of the GOP and the need to bring Latinos into the Republican Party. The proposals Bush are balancing are "send them all home" and "make them all citizens" I don't think Bush can split the difference. But working out a deal on this issue will be the main action when the Senate takes up the issue again.
1 comment:
There's a great blog entry describing the immigration proceedures on Ellis Island, which is pertinent in light of convoluted immigration legislation.
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