The following letter was received from a Florida citizen. It was so well done that the WDW – Florida Editorial Board decided to post it for comments.
Senate President Reid
Senate Minority leader McConnell
Senator Leahy Chairman of the Committee On The Judiciary
Senator Grassley Ranking Member of the Committee On The Judiciary
Senator Schumer Chairman of the Immigration, Refugees and Border Security Committee
Senator Cornyn Ranking Member of The Immigration, Refugees and Border Security Committee
Speaker of The House Representative Boehner
Representative Goodlatte Chairman of the Committee On Judiciary
Representative Conyers Ranking Member of the Committee On Judiciary
Representative Gowdy Chairman of The Subcommittee On immigration and Border Security
RE: IMMIGRATION
Honorable Senators and Representatives:
I developed a more than casual interest in Congressional action and Executive Branch inaction regarding immigration and enforcement since Representative Simpson proclaimed on the Floor in the House this would be the one and only amnesty ever in the history of the Republic so Congress approved it and President Reagan signed it.
There were three promises made by Congress in exchange for passing mass amnesty in 1986:
The government would make a concerted effort to control the borders. Today 70 miles north of the border there are signs warning travelers to be on the lookout for illegal aliens. The Border Patrol estimates they interdict 61% of border violators which may be an optimistic estimate. When there was a major hiring of new recruits years ago to build up the border patrol they stopped giving lie detector tests because so many applicants failed the test. Please tell me how we can successfully protect South Korea’s border for over 50 years but can’t defend our own?
An effective employer verification program would ensure that only legal workers were hired. Finally, in 2008 President Bush issued an Executive Order for Federal Contractors only to use mandatory E-Verify, twenty two years after Congress promised to cover all businesses in the United States. During the Obama administration states reeling from the onslaught of illegal aliens such as Arizona have been sued by the Federal Government, aided by the countries who supply the bulk of illegal aliens, while simply trying to enforce Federal Immigration Law.
One-time amnesty would be granted for people illegally in the United States. It is obvious Congress can’t be trusted since they didn’t keep the first promise made in 1986, twenty seven years ago and instead issued 6 additional amnesties for another three million not counting President Obama’s directive granting amnesty by fiat for who knows how many illegal aliens between the ages of 16 and 30 without so much as a peep from Congress whose authority has been usurped by the president.
Amnesty proponents like Senator Rubio who ran for the Senate opposing amnesty, cites three million receiving amnesty in 1986 from the Simspon Mazzoli legislation and then fast forwards to 2013 saying we now have 11 million who need amnesty while some estimates are as high as 20 million being here illegally.
I don’t know if it is a deliberate deception or lack of knowledge of the history on the proponents of yet another mass amnesty or part of an attempt to rewrite the recent immigration history but it strikes me as odd they would ignore the other six mass amnesties and amnesty adjustments from 1986 through 2000 of time giving a grand total of 6 million granted mass amnesty when the promise initially was for only 3 million forever. This deception has been told so many times most people don’t know Congress has indulged in insanity by doing the same thing over and over again each time expecting a different result. The proposed legislation by the so-called group of eight senators if enacted would simply be the eighth failure resulting in a call for an additional amnesty in another couple of years.
Which brings me to the point of asking if you really want what is in the best National Interests of the Citizens Of the United States of America you swore to protect or what is in the best interests of the lobbyists trying to turn the Country into a marketplace allowing free entry and exit to all?
If you want what is in the best interests of the citizens then I strongly suggest a Commission similar to the one Barbara Jordan headed in the 1990s to cover all aspects of immigration be formed and an exhaustive in depth and non-partisan report be made. Following the report ensure the recommendations are included and enforced.
I suggest a commission be put in charge because it is obvious the proponents cannot get beyond politics and ethnicity. Read what is contemplated being proposed and if you show it to Alan Simpson he would probably have the same comment he did about the 2007 bill because the two are similar which was “Then there will be more amnesties and more chaos.”
The current proposed legislation is neither “Comprehensive or Reform.” It is simply a repeat of the insanity exercised since 1986 costing taxpayers trillions of dollars which demands a commission be appointed to bring sanity to situation.
Here are questions not addressed at all in the current immigration discussions but should be included as topics for a complete and Comprehensive evaluation by a commission:
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF IMMIGRATION? Throughout history immigration has primarily served the purpose of settling virgin lands and that reason was eliminated generations ago. Even President Kennedy in 1962 asking for immigration reform legislation said “We have no lands to settle”. Immigration allowed in then was roughly the equivalent of people leaving the country which was less than 250K a year. The large majority of today’s immigrants settle in the balkanized barrios of cities around the country. Allowing in workers with skills needed in the National Interest has long been replaced with a source of cheap imported labor even including maids and lawn mower operators. We are the third most populated country in the world and on our current course of mass immigration we will have an estimated population of 800,000,000 million by the turn of the century. If you have children and grandchildren is that the kind of overpopulated country you want to leave to them?
WHAT IS THE OPTIMUM POPULATION THE UNITED STATES CAN COMFORTABLY SUPPORT? Isn’t it time to take into consideration the environment that sustains the population and how it is affected by rampant population growth? I assume no one wants us to be as populated as China or India which is the path we are on if we don’t change our current mass immigration policies.
SHOULD WE HAVE MASS IMMIGRATION? Congressional and media pundits scratch their heads and pontificate as to why we can’t lower our poverty rates while ignoring the the 125,000 new immigrants entering the country every month the majority of whom are unskilled, uneducated and non-English speaking. 68% of legal immigrant Mexican families with American children are either in or near poverty. Twenty years after immigrating to the USA over 50% of Mexicans are still on welfare. Roughly 18% of all Mexicans legal or illegal now reside in the US. 67% of EL Salvadoran families are in or near poverty and constitute 20% of all EL Salvadorans. When the worst recession since the Great Depression hit 5 years ago causing massive unemployment in the double digits around the country not one person in Congress even mentioned the common sense idea of a pause in the incoming immigrants joining the workforce every month. 7,500,000 legal immigrants have entered the country from 2008 till now with the large majority entering the workforce.
SHOULD THE IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION ACT BE CHANGED? Currently it is estimated 200,000 births a year are primarily to illegal aliens who then establish an anchor to the government welfare teat. It is a magnet that even attracts wealthy pregnant women from around the world to come via “birth tourism” junkets so their child is born here, given a SS card and passport to then go back to wherever they came from. In the future the child will return an American citizen knowing nothing about the country and in fact may be coming to cause harm.
SHOULD THE PENALTY FOR ENTERING THE COUNTRY ILLEGALLY OR OVERSTAYING A VISA BE CHANGED? The scary thought of a misdemeanor for entering illegally deters no one. Overstaying a visa results in being barred from the country for a period of time. Perhaps the promise of a felony charge would be a much greater deterrent.
SHOULD THE CUBAN ADJUSTMENT ACT BE REPEALED? Currently 18% of all Cubans are residing in the United States and are the preferred immigrant, legal or illegal over all other immigrants dating back to the Cuban Missile Crisis days. Come illegally and put one foot on dry land and you get instant legal status and a green card in 12 months. Cuba is now allowing Cuban citizens to travel overseas which could result in another Mariel type influx of Cubans if they want to take advantage of the existing Act.
DO WE NEED A DIVERSITY VISA PROGRAM? The program brings in 55,000 legal immigrants from around the world annually to increase our diversity. Would someone please tell me what country in the world has a more diverse population mix than ours?
DO WE NEED A TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS PROGRAM? The only thing temporary about this program is the name. In 2001 over 200,000 EL Salvadorans were brought into the country to be selected as our guests following an earthquake and they have not been returned receiving another eighteen extension recently signed by President Obama.
REVIEW THE CORRUPT UN RUN REFUGEE PROGRAM Today the UN basically decides who the 85,000 refugees to be selected will be in a program reportedly rampant with corruption and payoffs. Those imported cost the Federal Government approximately $20,000 each for shipping and handling then dumped in communities with no advance notice to the residents.
REVIEW THE WORK VISA PROGRAM There are firms that coach employers on how to avoid hiring American workers and then work various strategies to avoid paying certain taxes. Milton Friedman correctly identified the work visa program as simply corporate welfare.
None of these ten items I listed were even mentioned by the gang of eight senators or the President which means what they are considering is neither “Comprehensive or Reform.”
Show you put the National Interests of the Citizens of the United States of America ahead of partisan politics and call for a Commission. We’ll be watching to see what you decide.
George Fuller
Sarasota, Florida