Fred Thompson has just announced his own immigration plan today, and from the looks of it, he's the first major Republican candidate to realize that voters don't want amnesty or immediate mass deportations.
What they are willing to accept is attrition — lower the number of illegal aliens by going after those who shield them, give them jobs and give them the means to blend into society.
Here's the key paragraph:
"Attrition through Enforcement. Reduce the number of illegal aliens through increased enforcement against unauthorized alien workers and their employers. Without illegal employment opportunities available, fewer illegal aliens will attempt to enter the country, and many of those illegally in the country now likely will return home. Self-deportation can also be maximized by stepping up the enforcement levels of other existing immigration laws. This course of action offers a reasonable alternative to the false choices currently proposed to deal with the 12 million or more aliens already in the U.S. illegally: either arrest and deport them all, or give them all amnesty. Attrition through enforcement is a more reasonable and achievable solution, but this approach requires additional resources for enforcement and border security:"
— Stephen Dinan, national political reporter, The Washington Times
Comments (6)
Couldn't have said it better.
And Thompson can start by attacking the "Judge" who struck down the DHS's No Match letters as part of his campaign. No Match letters ensure legal worked get all their Social Security benefits, and with the new enforcement follow-up ensure that illegals get pink slips so that the jobs can go to other legal workers. This would also tie immigration back to judicial appointees, 2 issues that really energise the base, especially in the face of Hillary.
Posted by Peter Locke | October 23, 2007 2:18 PM
Wow, it's an amazing idea! Stop giving illegal aliens benefits paid for US Taxpayers! Stop encouraging them to illegally come here. Rounding them all up and shipping them home is not required, just enforce our laws and stop giving handouts. I think this is what Ron Paul has been saying all along, although he includes eliminating birthright citizenship. I think that absolutely needs to be part of any deterrent program. Having babies of illegal aliens be US citizens is stupid. As a former Texas obstetrician, Dr. Paul is 100% right on this issue. Legal immigrants should be welcomed with no discrimination. Maybe Fred Thompson is being, as Sean Hannity put it, RonPaulized!
Posted by E Philipp | October 23, 2007 3:49 PM
Disincentive thru Worker's compensation rules,many employers that use this type of labor are not reporting them to insurance carrier for payroll!Worker get hurt,they ship'm out, they avoid costs and pay cash. Third degree felony in Pennsylvania for operator of business.
Posted by peter j.cochran | October 23, 2007 4:20 PM
Fred Thompson has the best approach to illegal immigration of all the candidates. And it is about time a voice of common sense was heard.
Paul Samuelson, the economist, has pointed out that American must select those who come into the country, and pick the best and the brightest. They add more to the economy than they take out, and then we can have a few low skilled people in, who the society carries for at least a generation before they are productive. Otherwise, you are looking at bankruptcy. All these low skilled illegals must be deported for our financial future.
The Senate has just voted to uphold sanctuary cities. Call all those AINO's (Americans in name only) and tell them to change their minds. Check out the number of Americans seriously mained, killed, raped, etc by illegals who should have been deported if Sanctuary Cities were not ignoring the law.
If our legal representatives keep ignorning the law, and the will of the American people, we may need a national referendum by Americans to vote on whether we will continue to pay taxes to support criminal illegals (and all illegals are crinminals).
On a TV documentary on LA, a policeman working the problem said that the Mexican drug cartels have taken over LA including all politicians there. Could that be the problem in DC? Are our poltiicans being blackmailed by the drug cartels? It is hard to understand why on earth they want to protect criminals and put Americans at risk.
Senator Hutchinson is pushing for 300,000 visas for various tech workers, right now. CALL AND PROTEST. There are plenty of Americans for those jobs, it is just companies don't want to pay the American going rate.
Posted by Bettybb | October 23, 2007 8:39 PM
Immigration is important but unless we start seeing china as the number one threat to american jobs neither us nor the illegals are going to have any blue collar jobs to fight over then we wont have an income to have to be worrying about how our taxes are spent.no-income no-taxes,no groceries.
Posted by Tommy D. Raines | October 24, 2007 2:47 PM
Bettybb-I would suggest you check out what Ron Paul's answer is to immigration. E. Phillip is correct in stating Thompson has been RonPaulized. Thompson's newly announced immigration plan is straight out of the mouth of Ron Paul who's been espousing it for years now! As a matter of fact, as RP gains popularity, the Republican candidates more and more seem to be cannibalizing bits and pieces of his philosophy, especially Thompson. It's actually pretty funny and certainly exemplifies the rather rubber like quality of each of the other candidates stance. By the way, I would even venture to say Thompson waited to throw down the glove to get a feel for public sentiment before he was locked into a particular line. Perhaps that's why he's recently become more vocal on what his position truly is.
Posted by Valerie M. | October 25, 2007 7:00 AM