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Karen, “The primary
beneficiaries are businesses that employ undocumented workers, whose
low-wage workforce will now be legitimized” Also “legitimized”
will be the requirement to pay minimum wage – rather than a pittance that
can be given to the fearful undocumented. The
crucial point is that the visas be renewed. I think that will happen. If it
doesn’t, we’ll return to the present system – under the
barbed wire with the coyote. We’ll
see what mess finally gets out of Congress. Harry ******************************************** From:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Karen Watters Cole Here’s the collection of commentary from Center
for American Progress on this topic, which definitely believes it is a Trojan
Horse, or institutionalizing the Wal-Martization of I’ve also since learned that other border
municipalities utilize matricula consulars
to give Mexican workers some access to legitimate identification. Blue Links are live. Italics are mine. - KWC IMMIGRATION The President announced his new temporary guest
worker proposal yesterday in the East Room of the White House, touting the plan
as "more
compassionate and more humane." But the President's proposal, which would allow undocumented
immigrant workers to obtain temporary legal status, falls far short of his
lofty rhetoric. The primary beneficiaries are businesses that employ
undocumented workers, whose
low-wage workforce will now be legitimized. Meanwhile, workers who provide years of labor could be forced to
return to their home countries in as few as three years or face deportation proceedings.
Susan F. Martin, an immigration expert at DANGER OF WORKER ABUSE: According to the President, "Participants who do
not remain employed...will be required to return
to their home." As a result workers are forced "to tie their fates to
employer 'sponsors' who could ship them back home for complaining
about job conditions." Specifically,
there is no reason to believe that workers who report discrimination, labor law
violations or any other abuses would be protected from termination of their
employment and deportation. AFL-CIO president John Sweeney said that as a
result, "the plan deepens the potential for abuse and exploitation of
these workers." In an interview with American Progress, former INS General
Counsel and Georgetown Law Professor Alex Aleinikoff noted the plan fails to
“regularize long-term contributors to the NO PERMANANT SOLUTION: The President assured his audience that the plan requires
"temporary workers to
return permanently to their home countries after their period of work in the NEEDED: MORE POLICY, LESS
PANDERING: There is little
evidence the Administration is genuinely committed to advancing a meaningful
immigration reform agenda. The proposal was announced yesterday without accompanying legislation, few details
and no timetable for action. In
fact, the most detailed information on the proposal may be contained in a transcript
of a conference call conducted Tuesday by a
senior Administration official that was posted on the Internet by blogger Josh
Marshall. The LA Times reports, "Bush's supporters hope he will reap a substantial
political dividend just by proposing it." According to a senior Congressional aide the early word from the
White House on the proposal was "not essential for the president that it
be enacted this year." And questions abound on whether the White House
will even expend the political capital to take on conservatives in Congress who
already oppose the plan. As Raj Goyle,
an expert at American Progress, told the NY
Daily News, "If Bush really cared about this policy, he would stand up to
his anti-immigration friends in Congress." Also see Bumiller: Border Politics as Bush Woos 2 Key Groups with
Proposal @ http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/08/politics/08ASSE.html EW wrote: I've just read part of Scott McClellan's press
briefing. If I understand what he was saying, the people who are being
brought out from the shadows will be allowed to stay in the I agree that illegal
immigrants would see this as a threat. It appears to put a time limit on
their stay in the BW wrote: Ed, I don't think this is about votes at all. I feel that
there are a lot of low income Hispanics who view this as a threat, first due to
increased competition from immigrants, and second, due to the fact that there
will be a lot more police and judicial hassle. What Bush is doing is to find ways to
shore up social security without significantly restructuring it. Although I see
this as another effort to undermine wages, the On Thu, 8 Jan 2004 10:21:42 -0500 "Ed
Weick" writes: It's all part of a grander vision. In the ---
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