What The President REALLY Said About Immigration Reform

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You know what really bugs me the most about all the attacks on President Bush? It’s the way every vicious rumor trotted out by a Democrat, RINO, or fluffy-haired overpaid yakking piehole gets treated as if it’s what the President supports or said, when in fact nothing of the kind is true. For over a decade now, George W. Bush has been saying what he means and following through on his promises to the best of his ability. Strange how so very little of that gets remembered, even by the vipers attacking him from behind, while assuring their audience that they, though unelected, have a better right to lead this country than the man twice elected to do so. ‘Contempt’ is hardly a strong enough word for my opinion of such cowards and thugs.

To properly discuss the President’s actual plan for Immigration Reform, you first have to get away from all the gossip and rumors and sort out what he actually proposed, and how he means to make it work. It’s hardly kept secret. The President’s words and plans on the matter of Immigration have been posted on the White House site all along, for anyone honest enough to bother checking out the facts for themselves.

Let’s understand right away, that this is a multi-dimensional problem. Congress has to pass laws for the reform, but we know from history that some very solid laws just are not being enforced. That means that we need to make the existing laws viable, with enough enforcement power to do more than make speeches. Critics do not mention that Bush has budgeted more money for border security than any other President in history, and has increased the staffing for Border Patrol significantly.

The Bush Plan has three major parts: Border Security, Enforcement Inside Our Borders, and Addressing the Existing Illegal Population. This is not new, it’s just been ignored for months by people more interested in bitching than making the plan work. This was discussed in detail back in March for instance, long before the illegals started marching and the hissy level of the panty-waist Right was at an almost human standard.

President Bush was also talking about Immigration Reform last November when he spoke with ranchers in Arizona. And in actual fact, the work during Bush’s time in office has shown better results than anyone seems willing to acknowledge; more than six million people intercepted trying to enter the country illegally, increased use of detention facilities and significant increase in border enforcement resources, cooperative focus on finding and apprehending violent illegals like the MS-13 gang (prior to Bush, there was no program whatsoever which addressed gangs of illegal aliens committing crime in the United States), and greatly improved enforcement of document forgery laws. It’s one thing that the MSM has paid no attention to this work, but shameful that so many false CINOs (Conservatives In Name Only) refuse to acknowledge it either.

The heart of the controversy is Bush’s proposed plan to create a Temporary Worker Program. Note before anything else is mentioned, that this has always been proposed as a temporary program, not a “path to citizenship” or even permanent residency, not a way to cut in line ahead of legal immigrants. What it is, when people calm down enough to pay attention, is a practical plan for dealing with millions of people who are here now illegally, and who would be difficult to locate and remove under the existing conditions. It should also be recognized, that Bush’s proposal was always meant to be the starting point for Congressional discussions and debate, as is obvious by the broad and general nature of the proposal.

Which brings me to the difference between pie in the sky fantasies and the hard reality. The cruel fact is that up to now enforcement of the existing laws has not worked. We can bicker all we want about why that is, but anyone who is not a moron understands that creating new laws will be very unlikely to work until we understand the cause of why the existing laws are not enforced. That means that while we all understand that a major cause of the problem is the employment of illegals by businesses breaking the law, many people do not accept that the DHS cannot be the principal law enforcement agency on that front; the people aware that this is happening are the local and county law enforcement agencies, and while they regularly round up illegal workers, they do not pursue the owners and contractors who hire them. This is not something President Bush can fix, much as we or he would like. I have ideas about how Congress could address this problem (like a severe tax penalty for hiring illegals, say $20,000 per offense), but in spite of the notion that President Bush could wave a magic wand and just sign an Executive Order, the actual fact is that Congress is where the reform has stalled, over and over again. Blaming Bush for Congress’ failure not only wrongly attacks the President for an action he does not control, but lets the con artists on Capitol Hill shirk their duty.

Which brings me to the Fence. One of the more stupid lies tossed around against President Bush, is that he does not want a fence on the border. This is wrong for several reasons, not the least because there is already a physical fence in many places along the border. And while it makes good sense to improve the length, size, and difficulty of the fence, again it needs to be said that this is a responsibility which Congress has failed miserably to address – has anyone even heard of a proposed committee hearing in the House or Senate to address building a reinforced, contiguous wall? Also, any physical barrier can be penetrated or surmounted, which means you need something else to make it functional. This is why President Bush also noted last November that while there was already “a fence here in the border. You're going to have a virtual fence in the border when we bring technology to bear - infrared, cameras, drones”. Additional resources to detect and apprehend border violations. Not instead of a physical barrier, as some have so dishonestly claimed, but in addition to it. This is very, very different than the image some folks have painted.

So, if President Bush does not actually want an amnesty and citizenship for illegals, and if he actually does support a physical fence, further enhanced with multiple modes of surveillance, then why are so many people claiming the opposite? Confusion for some, but rank dishonesty for others. People find this issue very uncomfortable, as they should when the security of our borders is concerned, but not everyone is prepared to address the crisis rationally, and the President of the United States has often been the favored target of the press and political demagogues, especially when he is a Conservative and from Texas. The plain fact is, that like Reagan before him Bush was the Governor of a border state before he became President, and he knows the issue far better than many of the Johnny-come-lately’s who think the matter through only to a point, then presume that their knowledge and experience somehow trumps the President’s. Like Reagan, George W. Bush takes on the whole issue, not just what’s on the surface, and he is pursuing a permanent solution, not some temporary paint job to win poll points. And just as Republicans began deserting Reagan in 1986, when their self-serving egos found Reagan’s attention on difficult issues unpalatable to their personal desires, so again politicians and stuffed-shirts are leaving President Bush, specifically because he is talking about the heavy lifting. And because they do not want to be seen for the deserters they are, they go so far as to blame the President for their own cowardice. With the MSM and Democrats already hungry for anything which makes the most prominent Conservative in the world look bad, Dubya is simply an easy target, especially since he is not the sort to return fire with similar lies and slander.

President George W. Bush is a man of his word. That fact was established long ago, and it used to be a common point of pride among Conservatives, that we had a man who did not lie or mislead, a refreshing change after eight years of the Clintons. And the fact of Bush’s honesty was known to his enemies, which is why “Bush Lied” became the ridiculous mantra of the Left; they knew that only if they could tear down his reputation as an upright man, could they hope to destroy him. But Bush has repeatedly shown that he does what he says he will do, even if Saddam Hussein and the vermin of Al Qaeda had hoped otherwise, and on every measure he has been consistent to his word and statement. So it matters to pay attention, not to what somebody else wants to claim he said or some deceitful interpretation which twists his words to claim something he never actually said at all, but to the President himself. He is specific, consistent, and trustworthy. And more than a few people owe him a humble apology. Again.