Despite Bush’s Promises, Georgians Remain Skeptical About Immigration Bill New York Times
June 19, 2007
By ROBERT PEAR

MARIETTA, Ga., June 18 — If President Bush thought he could win support for a comprehensive immigration bill by promising to secure the border and step up law enforcement, he would be dismayed by the reaction here.

“It’s all window dressing,” said Mark A. Johnson, a real estate lawyer in this fast-growing suburb of Atlanta. “We don’t believe the government has the will to enforce any of these promises. Everybody can see the folly of it, everybody but the politicians.”

Georgia’s two Republican senators would almost certainly be on the list of politicians arousing Mr. Johnson’s skepticism. The two, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, were part of the small bipartisan group that wrote the original bill. But they have been edging away from it since being strongly criticized in the state.

The storm raging around the bill shows no sign of abating despite reassuring presidential words about strengthening border security.

Reagan W. Dean, a Georgia state employee, said: “Maybe it is possible to secure the border. Maybe it is possible to establish an employee identification system. But I don’t have any confidence that it will be done.”

“It really upsets me to find out that my government says, ‘Yes, we can secure the border, we can detain illegal aliens, we can take all sorts of actions to enforce the law, but we will do so only if Congress provides legal status to those who are here illegally,’ ” Mr. Dean said.

The provision of the bill that appeals most to Hispanic groups and many Democrats — a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants — generates the most opposition from conservatives. After the measure stalled in the Senate on June 7, President Bush and sponsors of the bill pledged to strengthen its security provisions in an effort to defuse opposition to the legalization program. The legislation, Mr. Bush’s top domestic priority, is expected to return to the Senate floor late this week.

If a sampling of Georgia opinion is any evidence, the bill’s path has not gotten much smoother.

Louis S. Hunter, a pollster and political analyst based in Atlanta, said, “Congress and the president are completely out of touch with how people here feel about illegal immigration.”

Senator Chambliss, who is up for re-election next year, was booed last month when he defended the bill at the state Republican convention. In nearby Gwinnett County, the local Republican Party adopted a resolution last week urging both senators to “vote no on this amnesty bill.”

Jane V. Kidd, chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Georgia, said: “This is not a partisan issue in Georgia. A small percentage of Democrats are supporting the bill as it stands, but a majority of Democrats and Republicans in the state do not like it.”

Three Democrats who hope to unseat Mr. Chambliss have criticized the bill and his role in drafting it, Ms. Kidd said.

Joan Kirchner, a spokesman for Mr. Isakson, said he had “heard the message loud and clear.” The senator believes that border security and law enforcement “should be decoupled” from proposals to legitimize the status of illegal immigrants and establish a guest-worker program, Ms. Kirchner said.

Douglas C. Dromey, a land broker in Kennesaw, Ga., said, “I have written off both parties on this issue.”… please read the entire article it is well worth the short free registration. I did.

Dump Lindsay Graham ! Here.

Video of Graham speaking to La Raza here. It seems that if you object to amnesty-again, you are a bigot.

Contact Senator Graham here.

Graham is up for re-election next year.

Illegals using fire to clear border
By Jerry Seper
Washington Times

U.S. Border Patrol agents seeking to secure the nation’s border in some of the country’s most pristine national forests are being targeted by illegal aliens, who are using intentionally set fires to burn agents out of observation posts and patrol routes.

The rest of the story here….

DO NOT look at this photo from Los Angeles!

Letters to Mr. Espy can be sent to the address here. jimmyespy@daltoncitizen.com

Who is Jimmy Espy?

Read below to find out, I have a feeling you may want to write him with a differeing opinion on the illegal immigration/illegal employment crisis in Georgia.

Dalton Daily Citizen, Jimmy Espy: Holding pattern?

Written by Jimmy Espy
Posted on 2007-06-17

President Bush spent part of his week trying to rescue immigration legislation in the U.S. Senate. He may be wasting his time.

Not because the legislation he favors is inherently bad, but because there may no longer be sufficient national will to do anything substantive on the matter. Has all the yelling and screaming produced gridlock?

If so, it’s to the detriment of the country.

The United States needs to move forward with a comprehensive plan on immigration which allows illegal aliens currently living in the country to stay here and begin the process of “getting legal.”

It would be absurd after decades of a laissez-faire policy (non-policy?) on illegal immigration to suddenly decide that “NOW, we’re gonna get tough and you all have to go home.”

Not only does that not pass the basic fairness test, but it ignores the economic and social problems that would ensue.
Abandoned jobs?
Families split up?
Massive bureaucratic snafus?
And that’s just the start.

We need a process by which these millions can gain legal status in this country and the sooner the better. As part of this process, we also need to begin straining out as many unacceptable candidates as possible. Make a probationary period a part of the procedure. You want to stay in the U.S? Don’t commit crimes. Get a job. Learn English. Make those things requirements.

The U.S. has the right to maintain its borders and regulate who comes into the country to live. That means we have to be able to secure our borders. Why spend billions of dollars on airline surveillance and security, then do little or nothing to stem the tide of illegal immigration across our southern borders?

Does that mean we need a 20-foot wall stretching for hundred of miles? Maybe, maybe not. But I suspect a well-crafted, aggressively enforced federal immigration policy would be a lot more effective than any physical impediment.

The rabid anti-immigration crowd doesn’t want to hear any of this. The true believers are convinced that illegal immigration is going to the be the downfall of this country. Bullfeathers!

Without immigration, legal or otherwise — the population of this country would quickly begin to decline. Fewer people would enter the workforce and the aging U.S. population would have a smaller pie to slice up to pay for costly benefit programs.

Immigrants can help solve this problem, but only if they become full-fledged participants in our economy.

That won’t happen if they are kept in the shadow world…more from Espy here…courtesy of Jerry’s site

Photo of GALEO errand critterJerry Gonzalez here scroll down. Cute ehh?

Great map/tool here

Time magazine asks can it work? Read the article from the 80’s…see if any of the arguments for amnesty sound familiar.

The bill’s purpose is to regain “control of our own borders,” in President Reagan’s words, and to prevent the further explosion of a shadow society composed of immigrants who live in the U.S. outside either the protection or the obligations of American law

or

But these calculations assume that the total population of illegal aliens is somewhere around 6 million. Some experts think the real figure might be twice as high. An even more vexing question is how many immigrants would risk identifying themselves to the INS. They would have to present such documents as rent receipts…

or

Simpson-Mazzoli’s defenders think it can eventually slow, if not stop, the influx of new illegal immigrants, but concede that it will take time and increased enforcement (the bill would also beef up the budget for border patrols and the INS). The principal argument of the supporters is an unenthusiastic one: the bill represents the only kind of compromise that can pass Congress. In their view, the alternative is to do nothing and let an intolerable situation get worse.

The entire Time article from 1984 HERE.

The people who actually run Washington were succesful in passing the amnsty in 1986.

NEVER AGAIN.

Watch this video!

Only 20 percent of American voters want to revive the controversial federal immigration bill that has the backing of business groups, Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl, President Bush and Democratic Senate leadership.

A new poll by Rasmussen Reports found that only 20 percent of those surveyed want the bill revived for further consideration. Fifty-one percent of respondents said they prefer smaller steps than the comprehensive approach taken in the proposal. Another 16 percent want the immigration plan put off until next year.

More here.