Bush Pushes Lawmakers to Pass Immigration Legislation

[cal04]

President Bush urged Congress on Saturday to find a middle ground between mass deportation or instant U.S. citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already living in America. Bush's radio message was the third time this week he has spoken out about immigration. On Monday, in a televised address from the Oval Office, Bush said he would order as many as 6,000 National Guard troops to secure the U.S. border with Mexico, and urged Congress to give millions of illegal immigrants a chance at citizenship.

Bush said the National Guard troops would fill in temporarily while the nation's Border Patrol is expanded. He asked Congress to add 6,000 more Border Patrol agents by the end of his presidency and add 6,700 more beds so illegal immigrants can be detained while waiting for hearings. However, Homeland Security Department Inspector General Richard L. Skinner said in a report Friday that the administration hadn't budgeted enough, and that it will take nearly 35,000 more jail beds to detain all high-risk aliens.

``This week I asked Congress to provide funding for dramatic improvements in manpower and technology at the border,'' Bush said Saturday. ``We'll hire thousands more Border Patrol agents. And to help these agents do their jobs, we will deploy advanced technologies such as high-tech fences in urban areas, infrared cameras and unmanned aerial vehicles.'' Many congressional Republicans said they supported Bush's plan to use National Guard troops at the border. But he ran into criticism from some border state governors, Democrats and some other Republicans.

In the Democratic radio response, Rep. Mike Honda of California said Bush should denounce the approach of House Republicans, who won passage of a tough immigration bill that would erect fences along the Mexican border and treat people who sneak across as felons to be deported. ``The president's public relations campaign won't get the job done,'' Honda said about the proposals the president announced Monday. ``As the Senate continues to consider comprehensive immigration reform, the president needs to stand up to the far right, and take a stand on the details of the bill before them.''

http://www.1010wins.com/pages/37879.php?

[radfringe]

1. yeah, hurry up, pass the legislation

so he can save his sorry ass...

[rodeodance]

2. another made up crisis (with the media pushing it)!

[Fridays Child]

3. It's not a made up crisis in the border states.

Our schools and public health care systems are strained--sometimes, to the breaking point--by the influx of undocumented immigrants. But it's been that way for a long time, around here.

Edited to add: You are right, though, that the media are pushing it. :)

[radfringe]

4. it's been a "crisis" for years

along with border security - it should have been one of the biggies to be addressed after 9-11

so why now? POLITICS - scoring points and turning it into a wedgie



meanwhile - instead of focusing on the issue of illegal aliens and border security - the freaking congress is all in a tither about making ENGLISH the OFFICIAL Language

in terms of national security - will Bin-Laden and others of his ilk all of a sudden throw up their arms and surrender because we now have an official language????

[primavera]

5. It's why your economy is one of the healthiest in the country

Sorry, but Arizona always strikes me as a bit hypocritical in its allegations that immigrants are costing them a fortune given that Arizona's prosperous economy is built almost entirely on the backs of the cheap labor being provided by those immigrants you're all so eager to deport. But alas, thanks to Prop 200, Arizona's been the victim of a concerted brainwashing effort by anti-immigrant hate groups such as FAIR, Center for Immigration Studies, American Patrol, and Concerned Conservative Citizens who have all focussed their PR efforts on grotesquely exaggerating the social welfare costs of immigrants and attempting to bury the economic benefits they contribute to states. They've successfully fanned the flames of prejudice and brainwashed a lot of people into believing a myth, so I don't suppose it should surprise me to hear their propaganda being repeated, but it's still a disappointment.

[Fridays Child]

6. You assume far too much.

I recognize the strain it has put on our publicly funded systems but where did I say that I am eager to deport?