Let me finish with the dangerous, disgusting, dispiriting thought that we, this self-governing republic, are simply not up to the job.
Let's take immigration, the topic the president addressed today. Let me now talk to people who believe we, as Americans, have a right to say on what terms people get to enter this country.
We all know the basis of any immigration "fix." We need to find some way to stop the flow of illegal immigration. We need to find a way of dealing with the people who made their lives here and became a living part of our country.
I believe the key to finding a comprehensive solution begins and ends with stopping the illegal hiring of people because the search for work is the primary reason people leave their countries and come here.
The president supports creation and issuance of a tamper-proof ID card and I support him. If you don't, I ask you to examine your conscience. You need an ID to get money from the bank, to cash a check, to check into a hotel, board an airplane, get married. You need a passport to leave the country and return. Why should someone who's not here legally not face the same requirement that Americans face every time they cross the border?
I salute the president for getting to the root of the problem. I recommend that every citizen who cares about illegal immigration ask anyone running for office whether he or she actively supports the end to illegal hiring and is not just willing but "eager" to give employers a way to stop it.
If not, I believe it fair to say the politician who goes quiet on this matter, or gives you a lot of blah, blah, blah is just another player gaming the system. They can call themselves "civil libertarians" or "immigrants' rights advocates" or "churchmen" or "concerned businessmen" but you will know them by their refusal to stop illegal hiring. They are gaming the system for cheap, illegal labor, for votes, or they simply have no problem with the flow of illegal immigration. They oppose giving honest business people the one tool they need to stop it – a trustworthy ID card, because the last thing they want to do is stop it.
The president is right on this ID card business. The game players, left, right and center are wrong. Got it?
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I don't understand why Chris Matthews keeps pinning his hopes to an ID card to solve the illegal immigration problem. If such a system was ever implemented, complete with "tamper-proof" ID cards, it would simply be a matter of nanoseconds before some 19 year-old at MIT figured out a way to counterfeit it. Ask the Secret Service just how many unforgible documents have ever been created. What is needed is a comprehensive policy. One that deals not only with illegal immigrants who are here today, but also the ones that will be here tomorrow. This policy should also be able to tell the difference between an illegal immigrant that is a potential problem for our country, and those that we would be proud to bring into our collective society. I'll be honest, I have no idea what this majic policy is, but as the second generation product of an immigrant who was both illegal and a heroic American, I can't stop hoping that such a solution exists.
Almost my exacts thoughts. I only disagree on one point Unfortunately, neighter party wants to enforce the laws, and wont even enforce them with card check. Dems see illegals as source of voters and the union bosses see them as a source of dues. On the Repub side, illegals are a source of cheap labor. When the people say they want the borders secured first, what they are really saying to the Federal Gov and both parties is that we dont trust either party. They are saying that the last time we had reform, and illegals were given amnesty , the Federal Government and the politicians betrayed us and lied to us. They gave us only half the loaf, they gave illegals the pathway, but did not enforce the laws. Perhaps the solultion is to move immigration enforcement back to the state level, and enact comprehensive reform at the same time.
To both parties I say this. Fool me once , shame on you. Fool me twice , shame on me. Well before I will support comprehensive reform again, I want proof! I want proof in the form of a fence. I want proof that the Feds will, at the very least, register all the companies and the illegals they have hired. I want proof that if comprehensive reform is again enacted, that the laws will be enforced, and Iwill not be lied again to
I want Obama to say more, like tell us all how the laws will be enforced! He promised us transparency, and that was a lie. So why should I believe him now, when he tells me that comprehensive reform, this time, will solve the problem. He and all the politicians, Repubs and Dems, have to demonstrate and prove to us all that they will not only pass another law, but that whetever law is passed will be obeyed and enforced. I for one respect Arizona for having the guts to at least try to enforce our laws. It is more than our Federal govenment has done over the last couple of decades. The mess we are in is because both parties have lied to us and failed us
Obama did mention the ID card. But I do not trust him on how he wants it used! I can see it now, ID cards with the illegals names and addresses being used by the Dem party to beef up their political campaign contribution money making mailing list. Or will the ID cards only be used for the purposes of establishing the identities of individuals and their status.>? Why did Obama only mention the cards, and not mention enforcement of our laws? I for one, do not trust this president, just as I did not trust Bush
Do we really want to trust our untrustworth govenment with tracking cards? Do we really trust our govenment to use the date as it was originally intended? Lots to consider when giving our greedy politicians more ways to track and monitor people
Almost everyone has seen one of those 1940s movies, set somewhere in Europe, where a policeman, usually of Slavic or Germanic national origin, moves down the aisles of a train, asking ever so politely for "Papers, papers, please." Most people who have traveled abroad have memories of how closely they held their passports for fear of losing the one identification document that was necessary to enable them to return home.
Identification documents have evolved over time to enable the holder not only to return home from a trip abroad, but also to serve myriad other purposes. Today, many different documents are used to help establish the holder's eligibility for many types of societal benefits, foremost among these the eligibility to legally work in the United States.
Now under serious consideration by Congress and the Clinton administration is a proposal, not to create a set of papers or an internal passport, but to create a computerized national registry of every man, woman and child authorized to work in the U.S. The stated purpose of this proposal is to provide employers with a simple method of ensuring that the people they employ are legally authorized to work in the U.S.
http://www.i-9help.com/Papers.htm
Good job Chris, I like very much your let me finish commentary yesterday. It hit the nail right on the head...It is time for the politician to stop playing politics with the immigration issue. They use it eveytime the elections are approching, Democrats and Republicans (R - The Worse American Party) as a political tool, and they never do anything about it. I agreed with you and the president the ID Card is the way to go in order to really know who is among us and also they Government must inforce the exisiting law to penalize employers that hire undocumented workers, this will set up an standard wages, will increase our tax revenues, and they will be entitle to our social services. As soon as they do that the migrants would know that they no longer will be able find a job here, they would not come to risk their lives across our borders and the ones that got through will see that they cannot find jobs. Then they will go back to where they came from. I see it, it is very simple. Keep up the good work Chris, we need more people like you to make this country better.
How can another ID solve the problem when 'employees' aren't asking for any.
We already have a system to assure people are legal citizens as well as local residents: driver's license's and social security numbers. Yet another ID only adds more layers of bureaucracy and yet another item to forge and fake.
When I apply to a job I am required to hand over my license, which they photo copy; my s.s. number is on the application and these are checked and verified. If I have no identification such as this or fake I'm not hired; and the employer doesn't check and hires me anyway then it is the employer who isn't abiding by the law and that is where the weed has its roots.
As long as businesses are willing to hire illegal's, forcing everyone to get a new ID isn't going to make them check this new one any more than they do what is in place now. Stopping business owners would be more logical than tackling this from the other end. With these people no longer able to hire illegal's, illegal's will either stop coming or, logically, start functioning even further outside the law.
This is a complex problem, forcing another ID system as a simple cure just won't cut it.
However, I may not have my information straight and that the ID system Chris is supporting the President with is for illegal's only -- a sort of temporary legit standing working as a step to complete and legal citizenry. If so, then it's an idea that needs more to it than simply issuing them; illegal's at the very least will have to know of it, agree to come out of the shadows and risk what they have to do it and we, as legal citizens, will have to be willing to foot the bill.
After the last amnesty program for illegal aliens we put into place safeguards so employers would never hire people illegally again. Because as you stated Chris, the problem is people trying to get employed.
The I-9 form is used by employers and requires 2 pieces of documentation to prove US citizen ship or a green card in order for the employer to help you. Fines were set for employers who did not follow the procedures.
But here lies the problem with this simple system: No one from a government agency ever goes to employers and audits them. As an HR manager for 15 years in an organization that hired thousands, never once did the federal government audit our I-9 records, NOT ONCE. Therefore no fines, not motivation to adhere to the law and the problem we have now is created.
I would like to see the records from the federal government of all audits since the laws inception, the number of fines levied against employers and the list of those employer infractions. I bet compared to the ICE enforcement it is minimal if not non existent.
TV shows of rounding people up are great for ratings but good policy that is enforced through something like the employment process is what helps manage a problem such as illegal immigration. Now that we have dug ourselves a hole the problem seems like a mountain rather than an issue we had a very good solution for years ago.
No need for a new card, lets enforce the policy we have. Staff audit teams, evaluate employer records against real time data bases, levy fines and begin a real enforcement process against those who have made billions off scared cheap labor who won't talk back.