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Author Topic: US Immigration amnesty bill
Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560

posted 03 June 2007 05:44 AM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Do we have a thread on this? I did a quick search and didn't see anything.

Bush's push on immigration tests his base

quote:
President Bush’s advocacy of an immigration overhaul and his attacks on critics of the plan are provoking an unusually intense backlash from conservatives who form the bulwark of his remaining support, splintering his base and laying bare divisions within a party whose unity has been the envy of Democrats.

It has pitted some of Mr. Bush’s most stalwart Congressional and grass-roots backers against him, inciting a vitriol that has at times exceeded anything seen yet between Mr. Bush and his supporters, who have generally stood with him through the toughest patches of his presidency. Those supporters now view him as pursuing amnesty for foreign lawbreakers when he should be focusing on border security.

Postings on conservative Web sites this week have gone so far as to call for Mr. Bush’s impeachment, and usually friendly radio hosts, commentators and Congressional allies are warning that he stands to lose supporters — a potentially damaging development, they say, when he needs all the backing he can get on other vital matters like the war in Iraq.


I've been watching this here and there on CNN, since visiting the US recently and seeing an NBC camera crew in a small town pub where I was eating lunch one day, looking to get "local reaction" to the whole deal.

I don't know as much about this as I'd like (and hopefully this thread will be active and rectify that!) but it sounds to me like the Democrats are forcing some stuff into it that the real neo-cons hate, and that Bush is in a pretty tough spot, having to give concessions that his base hates.

I think I conditionally support this measure (conditionally, that is, until I hear anything about punitive stuff hidden within it, which I'm sure there is since Democrats aren't exactly progressive on the issue of immigration either). Amnesty is a pretty good solution, I think. And most people who are against it are troglodytes, which is another point in its favour.


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560

posted 03 June 2007 06:05 AM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Thousands rally for changes to immigration bill.

quote:
Thousands of immigrants and their supporters gathered on the west lawn of the Capitol on Saturday to urge the Senate to adopt legislation that would make it easier for illegal immigrants to become legal residents of the United States.

Braving the midday heat, the demonstrators, who were largely from the Washington area, streamed onto the lawn above the reflecting pool, waving American flags and carrying red, white and blue placards.

The rally was smaller than those held here and across the United States last year. But its organizers, the National Capital Immigrant Coalition, said it was the first step in a campaign to press senators to change key aspects of the immigration bill they are considering.

Congress has been on a weeklong recess and will be in session again on Monday. Before the break, the Senate began discussion of an immigration bill that, among other things, would levy a $5,000 fine on illegal immigrants who seek legal status, require guest workers to return home for one year for every two years worked in the United States, and give higher priority for legal status to well-educated immigrants, rather than to those who have family here.

Conservatives have dismissed the bill as amnesty for illegal immigrants. But immigrants’ rights supporters, like those at the rally,said provisions like the fine and the return clause were onerous barriers to legalization.


So, that conditional support of 10 minutes ago? I'll take the word of the people most affected by this bill.


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged

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