Highlights/Lowlights from the President's immigration speech:
His plan:
-Add 6,000 Border Patrol Agents and use the National Guard to assist them for a year while more agents are trained to patrol the border. (National Guard will not engage in law enforcement activities in the interim).
-Install a “virtual fence” (which Bush defined as “technologically advanced high-tech fences in urban corridors” “unmanned drones” and “motion sensors”)
-Hold employers accountable by creating a biometric identification card for guest workers
-Make illegals pay a “meaningful penalty” for breaking the law and allow them to stay by paying their taxes, making them learn English and demonstrating long-term employment
-Encourage English speaking and writing skills on behalf of immigrants
Pros:
Bush acknowledged there's a problem and illegal immigration threatens security and increases crime.
Cons:
No fence. Doesn't militarize the border. Is amnesty.
UPDATE 5/16/2006 10:15 am
After reading the transcript, it appears I misinterpreted the five points listed last night.
These are the points the President enumerated:
1. Call on Congress to increase "manpower" and "technology" to secure the border (Use the National Guard to assist Border Patrol Agents until they are increased by 6,000) and install "high-tech" fences and motion sensors, infared cameras and unmanned aerial vehicles.
2. Create a temporary worker program
3. Require immigrants to have a tamper-proof identification card.
4. Make illegals pay a "meaningful penalty" which Bush describes as paying taxes and learning English.
5. "Honor the great American tradition of the melting pot."
My apologies to our blog readers. I was looking for concrete points. Perhaps I was too shocked when Bush said, "To secure our border, we need to create a temporary worker program."
And, I assumed the last step was rhetoric rather than a plan of action.
My pro's and con's, however, remain the same.
