BS: Bush and Dems working together...

Subject: BS: Bush and Dems working together...
From: beardedbruce
Date: 25 Apr 07 - 11:53 AM

Dobbs: Big media hides truth about immigration
POSTED: 9:39 a.m. EDT, April 25, 2007

By Lou Dobbs
CNN

Editor's note: Lou Dobbs' commentary appears weekly on CNN.com.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The Bush administration and the leadership of the Democratic Party are preparing to take another legislative leap at imposing a massive illegal alien amnesty on American citizens.

And the mainstream media is complicit in advancing this thinly veiled blanket amnesty. Instead of asking and answering important questions about why our immigration laws aren't being enforced and why we're permitting pervasive document fraud, the national media seems hell-bent on trying to obfuscate the issue, shamelessly playing with language, equating legal immigration with illegal immigration while obviously trying to preserve the illusion of objectivity.

Too often, the language of the national media describes illegal immigration as "migration" and illegal aliens as "undocumented immigrants," even though many of them have lots of documents, most of which are fraudulent or stolen. Some media outlets have taken to calling illegal aliens "entrants." Whether such language is meant to engender sympathy or to intentionally blur the distinction between legal and illegal, the mainstream media is taking sides in this debate.

The Arizona Republic, for example, used "undocumented immigrant" more than 80 times in 36 separate stories in the past month alone; the term appeared as many as 12 times in one article on "migration," according to our Lexis-Nexis search. At the same time, "illegal alien" appeared a total of only nine times during that span, with seven of the references coming from readers' opinions, one from a quotation and one from an editorial.

The mainstream media reports as if America would no longer be a welcoming nation if we stopped illegal immigration. Nothing could be further from the truth. Why does the national media conveniently and routinely neglect to report that the United States brings in more lawful immigrants than the countries of the rest of the world combined? Each year, we accept 2 million immigrants legally. We give a million legal immigrants permanent residency every year. We bestow citizenship on 700,000 people a year and provide almost half a million work-related visas a year.

Illegal immigration, in fact, has the potential to change the course of American history: Demographers at the Brookings Institution and the Population Reference Bureau paint a troubling picture of the future of our democracy. As more illegal aliens cross our borders and settle in large states like California, Texas and Florida, congressional seats will be redistributed to these bigger states following each decennial Census. States with low levels of immigration will ultimately lose seats as a result. Unfortunately for American citizens, this seismic shift in political representation will be decided by noncitizens that cannot vote.

Congress will soon take up so-called comprehensive immigration reform, and a bipartisan House bill would probably admit 400,000 guest workers a year. And since any plan calling for eventual legalization would include family members who live outside the United States, the legislation would open our borders to tens of millions of people. The Heritage Foundation's Robert Rector estimated that the 2006 version of the McCain-Kennedy bill would have added an additional 66 million immigrants over the next 20 years. The bill may change, but that estimate has yet to be refuted.

There's no question this type of mass immigration would have a calamitous effect on working citizens and their families. Professor Carol Swain, professor of law and political science at Vanderbilt University and author of "Debating Immigration," would like to see more people speak up for the sectors of society most affected by illegal immigration.

"How many African-American leaders have you seen come out and address the impact that high levels of illegal immigration [are] having in the communities when it comes to jobs, when it comes to education, when it comes to health care?" she asked. "And often, these low-skilled, low-wage workers compete in the same sectors for jobs."

Let's have a vigorous open debate on illegal immigration in this country, and let's begin with the facts. Estimates of illegal aliens in this country range from 12 million to 20 million people. Why doesn't our government know how many there are?

Shouldn't this Congress and this president at least recognize that the industries in which illegal aliens are employed in the greatest percentages also are suffering the largest wage declines? And shouldn't there be an economic impact statement researched and delivered to this Congress, this president and the rest of us before any legislation granting amnesty is even considered?

Shouldn't we first bring the facts of illegal immigration out of the shadows?

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer.

Subject: RE: BS: Bush and Dems working together...
From: Amos
Date: 25 Apr 07 - 12:19 PM

Seems to me illegal immigration has already made major changes to American History. Plymouth Rock, Jamestown, Hudson Bay, oh, and that damned land bridge to Siberia -- we should put a fence up on the damn thing. Oh, and then there's Cortez and Vespucci and Columbus, buncha damn furriners. All those Iriish in steerage running away from their own troubles. Thousands of them, millions! and not a passport in the lot.

Damned shame.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Bush and Dems working together...
From: Rapparee
Date: 25 Apr 07 - 12:37 PM

I've said for years that the trouble with the US all stems from the lax immigration policies of the American Indians.

Subject: RE: BS: Bush and Dems working together...
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 25 Apr 07 - 12:39 PM

Those damned illegal aliens! I say we push forward with resumption of lunar space flight, find that illegal alien base on the dark side of the moon, and get rid of 'em once and for all. This planet's not big enough for six billion humans and a bunch of bug-eyed creeps! Hell, we don't even know where they're coming from! Could be bringing in all sorts of diseases. And their spaceships probably don't even meet Mexican safety standards! Probably don't even have seatbelts, much less approved child restraint devices.

Subject: RE: BS: Bush and Dems working together...
From: Amos
Date: 25 Apr 07 - 12:43 PM

And their damn Unregistered Flying Objects, too!! Don't be fooled -- the American government has secret records of thousands of the damn things dating all the way back to Kitty Hawk.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Bush and Dems working together...
From: Stringsinger
Date: 25 Apr 07 - 01:09 PM

Thom Hartmann has the best solution. Penalize the corporations that hire illegals rather than the poor people themselves. Who can blame them for wanting to leave repressive Mexico under the latest despot and come here? Get those agribusiness guys, the sweat shop owners and the corporate criminals that hire and abet illegals. The corporate guys pay the "coyotes" to bring illegals here.

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: BS: Bush and Dems working together...
From: beardedbruce
Date: 25 Apr 07 - 01:10 PM

Absolute agreement, Frank.