President Bush Confronts Immigration Reform Bill Skeptics

Under the Bipartisan Immigration Reform Bill, temporary worker and Z Visas will not be issued until border security benchmarks are met.

(GLYNCO, Georgia ) - President Bush discussed the Bipartisan Immigration Reform Bill at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia on Tuesday.

The United States depends on Federal agents like those trained at FLETC to enforce immigration laws at the border and across the country.

By making enforcement of immigration laws the highest priority and addressing all elements of comprehensive reform, the bipartisan immigration bill now under consideration by the Senate will help put an end to illegal immigration and keep the U.S. economy strong.

President Bush said "The fundamental question is, will elected officials have the courage necessary to put a comprehensive immigration plan in place that makes it more likely we can enforce our border and, at the same time, uphold the great … immigrant traditions of the United States of America. … Those determined to find fault with this bill will always be able to look at a narrow slice of it and find something they don't like. If you want to kill the bill, if you don't want to do what's right for America, you can pick one little aspect out of it, you can use it to frighten people. Or you can show leadership and solve this problem once and for all."

The temporary worker program will help immigration enforcement officers control the border by creating a lawful and orderly channel for foreign workers to fill jobs that Americans are not doing.

Under the Bipartisan Immigration Reform Bill, temporary worker and Z Visas will not be issued until border security benchmarks are met.

Ensuring resources are available to maintain the effective end of "Catch and Release" for every non-Mexican apprehended at the borders.

Employers will be required to verify the work eligibility of all employees using the EEVS, and all workers will be required to present stronger and more readily verifiable identification documents.

Tough new anti-fraud measures will be implemented to restrict fraud and identity theft.

The maximum civil fine for hiring illegal workers will rise from $2,000 to $5,000 for first offenders and from $10,000 to $25,000 for three-time offenders.

The maximum criminal penalty for a pattern or practice of hiring illegal workers will increase 25-fold, from $3,000 per alien to $75,000 per alien.

Since the President took office in 2001, the Administration has more than doubled funding for border security from $4.6 billion in 2001 to $10.4 billion In 2007.

As a result of this investment and other deterrence factors, the number of people apprehended for illegally crossing the southern border is down by nearly 27 percent in 2007 from this point in 2006.

The Bush Administration says it is expanding manpower and improving infrastructure and technology at the border.

The Administration has expanded the Border Patrol from approximately 9,000 agents in 2001 to more than 13,000 agents today – and by the end of 2008, there will be a total of more than 18,000 agents, doubling the size of the Border Patrol since the President took office.

Today, there are in place 78 miles of permanent vehicle barrier and 86 miles of primary fencing, part of 370 miles of fencing planned by the end of 2008.

Immigration And Customs Enforcement (ICE) has adopted a much more aggressive approach toward cracking down on employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens.

Arrests for criminal violations brought in worksite enforcement actions – the most effective means of enforcement and best measures of ICE's new approach – have increased significantly from 24 in FY 1999 to a record 716 in FY 2006.

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brother keeper June 15, 2007 12:59 pm (Pacific time)

This bill is total sham and coming back next week. It is a way to legalize slavery in America. Write, call, e-mail your Congress--and give them a blunt NO. Take back our job as citizens, as we the people, to stop believing propaganda used to split us apart -- while the corporations steal us blind. NCLB is to destroy public education so we can be illiterate dark ages serfs soon. These dollar royals our breaking every rule and avoiding jail by scratching fellow plutocrat backs. Example-- they expose a whole team of our spies who keep track of loose nuclear materials. Libby is a lawyer -- he knew he was obstructing and it doesn't matter if he knew her exact status. Wartime CIA employee--- would YOU have sunk this ship with loose lips? Our dead soldiers have wives and families. Elitists liars who commit treason in time of war should be in Guantanamo -- with their "suspect" victims. Focus on reality folks. We are all victims. Fix what lets them victimize central and south americans -- and us. FAIR trade -- rescind "free" trade, WTO, and get back to Geneva Conventions. Vote these liars out. Our CIA stats wars, trains "death squads" and then blames the countries where "violence" occurs for using the war weapons their buddies sold them. READ. READ. READ. And vote. We can pray and vote at the same time.

Rick June 1, 2007 7:58 am (Pacific time)

Thank you First Gen Euro. You are right...

First Gen Euro May 31, 2007 4:57 pm (Pacific time)

Congress loves it when you people fight over issues that take your eye off of the ball of Iraq and the corruption between Congress, private contracting firms and the inflated prices paid for use of non-military people in this first U.S. privatized Occupation. Keep it up. You are giving them just what they want. If you really want to do something that matters, learn more on live leak or U-tube about the coverage that you do not see on T.V. It is a far more important issue and is costing you far more in dollars than this immigration propaganda. There is already a North American Union and we will be switching to the Amero like the Euro in a few years. The deal was signed between our neighbors to the North and South and is done. So keep swinging in the dark. MSM has you just where they want you. Watch "Iraq For Sale" or "Why We Fight" from Blockbuster or your library. You can get information online.

Rick May 31, 2007 8:24 am (Pacific time)

This is for you Carson and others who have not realized much of what is really going on. Through narrow mindedness, many people refuse to see the whole picture as is actually is. When we, (you, me) see thowsands of "Latino" people marching on the streets we only see what we want to see or what the media wants us to see. We are led to believe that the people marching are the so called "illegals". This is not actually the case. The majority of these people marching are actually American citizens of Latino heritage. One of the reasons that they march is because of the decades of bigotry and prejudice that has been experienced by themselves and by their ancestors. The people who are here illegally and who are desiring to work hard for their families are not likely to expose themselves for fear of being deported or whatever the process is at the present time. I am sure that there are some who will risk exposing themselves, but the number, I believe is few. Anyway, for those of you who have not experienced racial prejudice,it is a terrible and degrading experience. I could go into detail on what this involves but I do believe that we are all intelligent enough to know what this entails. "Minorities", as they are called are human beings and feel the same emotions as all people. Even the term , minority, though it is supposed to delienate to the number of these people,is a degeading term. American citizens of Latino heritage will continue to support those less fortunate of Latino heritage as much as they can. Yes, there are criminals who are illegals but there are many more criminals who are American citizens. There is a major problem with the whole immigration process and it does need to be taken care of, but there is always a major component of racisim that raises its ugly head during these times and situations. Martin Luther King had a dream and so do many of those who want to become Americans.......

Vic May 31, 2007 7:04 am (Pacific time)

Matt Johnson , you hit the nail on the head. Nothing brings the closeted Nazis out like this issue. I cant believe how much hatred and racism many Oregonians harbor. And JC, if you could spell beyond the 3rd grade level, your hateful rambling might carry a bit more weight.

Carson May 30, 2007 8:08 pm (Pacific time)

Why would anyone be foolish enough to think anyone in the government would go back on their Revolution in governing and start keeping their word? Why are the honest people afraid to speak up and the illegal invaders are parading up and down our streets demanding more plunder?????

Human Resources Rep May 30, 2007 6:13 pm (Pacific time)

Along with the legal status that it would confer upon those who broke the law, this bill also poses a grave economic threat to middle class Americans, because it would drastically raise the number of H-1B visas granted to foreign professional workers. As a Human Resources representative, I see first hand how the H-1B visa and employment based green card programs actually work together to drive U.S. citizens in a wide variety of white collar industries from their jobs and even from their careers. To begin with, there is virtually nothing in the law that prevents employers from hiring H-1Bers for open positions even if qualified Americans are available and willing to do the work. Americans are routinely laid off and replaced with lower paid H-1Bers also. In these cases, Americans have practically no legal recourse available under current law. H-1B is also a dual intent visa, which means an employer may sponsor an H-1Ber for an employment based green card for legal permanent resident status. When a company seeks to sponsor a foreign worker for an EB green card, they are required by law to demonstrate a good faith effort to recruit Americans first. This process is called labor certification. But employers routinely game the labor certification process for green card sponsorship to defraud even well qualified citizen job applicants in favor of low wage foreigners. They use fake job ads and/or bad faith interviews of American citizens to convince the federal government that they tried to find American workers first. These practices are common in non-tech industries as well as high tech industries, but HR people are told to keep quiet about it or lose their jobs. I would be in favor of a program that issues a small number of self-sponsoring green cards for truly innovative or entrepreneurial foreign nationals on a competitive basis. But very few of the H-1Bers or green card applicants that I have seen in 10 years even come close to being truly innovative or entrepreneurial. Most are just practitioners with skills that are actually quite common among the domestic workforce. The only thing special about these foreigners is that they will work for substantially less than Americans in order to have a chance to become legal permanent residents. Thus they are used by management to sweeten corporate balance sheets. The prevailing wage regulations are supposed to insure that foreign nationals are paid the same as their American counterparts in the same job functions, but these regulations are so riddled with loopholes that they are a bad joke. Since my work allows me to have access to salary records, I can tell you that the labor cost savings for H-1Bers and green card applicants is substantially greater than the costs of filing the applications with the government. Citizens in all white collar professions should demand that both the H-1B and employment based green card programs be abolished in their current form.

Pancho May 30, 2007 5:05 pm (Pacific time)

jc: You need to learn how to spell....

Adolph May 30, 2007 5:03 pm (Pacific time)

If I took someone's home, killed their family, took their food and posessions, and called it my home now,I would surely watch the front door to make sure that no one would invade my home.

Zapata Califas May 30, 2007 3:13 pm (Pacific time)

Remember that this country was founded by immigrants who came to this country speaking other language, french, irish, italian, russian, spanish and english..... just keep that in mind. I think the only problem is that mexico and all of s. america is next this great country of USA!. That is why Mexicans are being targeted. Thanks for your time.

jc May 30, 2007 2:54 pm (Pacific time)

I think all Illegals should be fined and deported to there country if hired or given entrance in the US they are sent to jail to die in the chair. Also this is AMERICA learn to speak our language

WW May 30, 2007 1:30 pm (Pacific time)

This is crazy ... It will not stop the invasion of Mexicans until we either institute a national ID card reissued every 120-to-180-days OR we place 500,000 armed border patrol agents on the southern border. We need fines on businesses that hire illegal immigrants regardless of if the business management knew the hired individual was illegal... and we need the arrested illegal immigrants to give us names and addresses of those who assisted them - including past and current employers. Failure to cooperate and they'd be banned forever from the USA.

Matt Johnson May 30, 2007 1:23 pm (Pacific time)

Wow, I hope you anti-immigration people are also on the record non-Christians, because that is what you are, the devil's people. Nobody of any level of decency wishes such things upon another human being. Did you guys get a good deal for your soul? I hope so, because it flew out the window long before you became so damn fearful and hateful. You need to relearn what being a man is, to say the least.

W_Power May 30, 2007 12:55 pm (Pacific time)

We need to clean this country of all illegals. We need to keep this country clean. Watch our southern border with a keen eye and a loaded gun. This is our country!

Dunn May 30, 2007 12:53 pm (Pacific time)

The North American Union agreement was signed in 2005. Get ready for the Amero just like the Euro. I can not believe that people still trust D.C. Why isn't there a picture of Stalin in the back of Bush instead of that flag that used to represent...I forget what country it was but it doesn't matter anymore.

Anonymous May 30, 2007 12:40 pm (Pacific time)

Just make the nation toxic to illegals. If an employer hires an illegal they lose their business to the govt and get ten yrs hard labor. If a landlord rents or sells property to an illegal the property is lost to the govt and they get 10 yrs hard labor. You will soon find no employers or landlords willing to ever come close to dealing with illegals and the illegals with no jobs and nowhere to live will choose to go back where they came from. This is not rocket science. Why doesn't the Congress just do this? Because they are in the back pocket of Corporate America which likes there being illegals and to heck with th middle class, That's why.

Immigrant May 30, 2007 12:30 pm (Pacific time)

We conquer, take over, and make our own laws to suit ourselves. We are all illegal immigrants in this country and do only that which suits ourselves. The good that inhabit this world will always be at odds with those who are not good. We might want to examine ourselves and our judgements from time to time before judging those who are trying to enter this country of which many whose ancestors were here before ours and lost this land to the ones who conquered them...

noamnesty May 30, 2007 11:46 am (Pacific time)

Is this Now "No Alien Left Behind"? Four Failures within the Bill that President Bush and Congress have not revealed: S.1348 Failure #1: The bill leaves OUT a requirement that a computerized exit system be in place and working BEFORE any new immigration programs can begin. This ensures that if this bill passes, we will continue to have hundreds of thousands of legal visitors becoming illegal aliens each year. S.1348 Failure#2: Illegal aliens get their legal status long before the ZVisas. They get their "probationary" legal status, including a work permi, social security number at the very beginning after bill passes. If the ZVisas are never offered because the enforcement "triggers" are never met, the bill would ALLOW the NOW legal aliens to work and live in the U.S the rest of their lives under the probationary status. S.1348 Failure#3: The triggers DO NOT require that DHS(Dept of Homeland Security) have operational control of border: they do NOT require DHS to comply with the law and build all of the fence: they do NOT require that DHS implement the exit system that would allow us to know if "guest workers" actually leave; they DO NOT require work site enforcement; they DO NOT require that DHS increase its apprehension rate or its alien absconder removal rate S.1348 Failure #4: Without appropriations, none of the talk about increased enforcement means much particulary when based on the track record of the last 3 administrations(including Bush 1) of ignoring immigration laws

Anonymous May 30, 2007 10:18 am (Pacific time)

It doesn't go far enough to remove the illegals who are already here... but at least it's a start

Pancho May 30, 2007 9:51 am (Pacific time)

Are we really afraid of Terrorists, smugglers or just the thought that Mexican immigrants will someday become American Chicanos? Chicanos with the rights to vote, work and to have the freedom of expression. It has been said. "We need to stop the invasion!" "They are ruining our country." Native Americans could not stop the invasion.....An old saying comes to mind in seeing all that is transpiring during these times and that is that: "What goes around, comes around." It is too bad that we all can not, in reality, Do unto others as we would have them do unto Us. I really wish that we could, despite the evil that is out in the world today....

DV May 30, 2007 8:26 am (Pacific time)

So now our very efficient effective Department of Homeland Security will have to okay me (A legal citizen) before I can work? Hello Big Brother.

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