Border Patrol surveys illegals about Bush amnesty

[Balog]

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?page=border_news&story_id=012204c1_bpsurvey

Illegal migrants asked: Did Bush plan prompt you to come here?

GABRIELA RICO
Tucson Citizen

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Border Patrol agents are surveying illegal immigrants to find out whether they came to the United States because of President Bush's immigration reform announcement.
A local officer of the Border Patrol union decries the exercise as meaningless and a waste of agents' time.

Agents have been directed to interview 1 out of every 5 immigrants they catch and ask if they heard about the proposed guest worker program and if that motivated them to come, said Mike Albon, public information officer for the Local 2544 Tucson sector of the National Border Patrol Council.

"It does burden agents down with paperwork, like they don't have enough already," he said. "And the survey itself is meaningless because you can't guarantee these people are going to tell you the truth."

A spokesman for the Border Patrol's Tucson sector said he wasn't aware of the survey being conducted locally.

"I know they're doing it in Texas and parts of Louisiana, but I don't know of any test being done here," said Rob Daniels.

And it's probably too early to tell if the 2-week-old announcement by the president is having an effect on the border, he said.

Chris Simcox, founder of Civil Homeland Defense, a citizen border watchdog group, said his group saw the effect of the president's announcement firsthand.

Last weekend it caught 85 people entering the country illegally, and Simcox said he was surprised by their reaction. His group calls Border Patrol agents when it catches illegal immigrants.

"They were, like, 'What's the problem? President Bush said it was OK,'" he said. "That's the attitude out there, and (Border Patrol) agents are totally demoralized."

 

[7.62FullMetalJacket]

Are we surprised when third-world peasants react to a "decree" from the President? In their world, the President does not necessarily need and inconvenience like laws to allow such activites.

 

[wingman]

Republican Lawmakers Won't Back Bush on Immigration
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
January 26, 2004

(CNSNews.com) - Republican lawmakers who generally back President Bush are not backing him on immigration. In fact, they want their leaders to know they have "serious concerns" about President Bush's proposed immigration policy.

In a letter addressed to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) and several other members of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus said they won't go along with the president's plan because it "does not address the problem appropriately."

"In fact, in our view, it will further exacerbate the problem and create discontent amongst the Republican Party," the letter said.

Jones, in a press release, said he and other lawmakers would consider alternative guest-worker legislation, as long as it does not reward lawbreakers with amnesty.

Although President Bush insists his proposal does not include amnesty, Jones said he thinks it does - because it would make illegal aliens who work in the U.S. for a number of years eligible for legal status and citizenship. That is de facto amnesty, Jones and the other lawmakers said in their letter.

"Since the President's speech, our offices have been inundated with calls from dismayed constituents expressing vehement opposition to the Administration's proposal," the "Dear Mr. Speaker" letter said.

"If we do not listen to our constituents on this matter, our influence and effectiveness in Congress could be jeopardized. Simply put, we cannot continue to allow our immigration laws to be violated and ignored -- and illegal aliens are by definition criminals."

According to the letter, President Bush's immigration proposal has left many conservatives "dismayed, angry and confused."

"Mr. Speaker, it is our hope that you will recognize the problems the Administration's proposal has created for our constituents," the letter says.

It notes that "respect for the rule of law is a core conservative value," and it urges the Republican leadership in the House to find a solution to America's immigration problem "that is more in line with the principles of our Party and our national traditions."

Earlier this month, President Bush proposed a new "temporary worker program" that would offer temporary legal status to millions of undocumented workers who have jobs in the U.S.

Bush said his program would "match willing foreign workers with willing American employers when no Americans can be found to fill the jobs."

Temporary workers would be expected to return permanently to their countries after their work stint in the United States has expired. Temporary workers wishing to seek American citizenship would be allowed to apply in the normal way, according to the president's plan.

"They will not be given unfair advantage over people who have followed legal procedures from the start. I oppose amnesty, placing undocumented workers on the automatic path to citizenship," Bush said.

"America is a welcoming country, but citizenship must not be the automatic reward for violating the laws of America," Bush added.

Bush's proposal drew immediate criticism from conservatives, who see it as a threat to national security and an affront to the rule of law.