Faith-Based Groups Oppose Immigration Bill

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON - Several faith-based groups oppose a Republican-sponsored immigration and border security bill that could move quickly through the House with a spending package for the wars in Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web sites).

The groups say the bill sponsored by House Judiciary Committee (news - web sites) Chairman James Sensenbrenner proposes asylum law changes that would hurt refugees fleeing religious persecution and should be debated in full committee hearings.

But Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, says the changes will prevent would-be terrorists from slipping into the country by abusing the asylum system.

The changes are tucked into a bill that seeks to prevent illegal immigrants from getting drivers' licenses and to complete a fence on the California-Mexico border.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20050130/ap_on_go_co/immigration_asylum

[baldguy]

1. Apparently, Jesus hates immigrants.

Or, maybe just brown-skinned, non-xian immigrants.

[Rose Siding]

2. Sensenbrenner's bill makes it harder to claim asylum

[yardwork]

9. This time I'm with the faith-based folks

Then again, my life is faith-based. It's a slightly different faith than chimpy has in mind, but it's a sincere faith nonetheless.

My faith tells me that immigration is a good thing for America. My faith also tells me that it's always the right thing to offer asylum to people.

I understand the security concerns but I don't think it's very relevant. There are many more direct ways to secure our borders - things that bushco hasn't bothered to do.

I think this is another example of using fear to justify denying people the right to come to the United States.

[struggle4progress]

6. Or immigrants who, despite all odds, escape to our shores ...

... from US client-states and then embarrass the political elite by telling people here exactly what our leaders are supporting abroad ...

[primavera]

8. Trust me, you wouldn't like what Sensenbrenner considers "reform"

His idea of reform is pretty much lining asylum seekers up against a wall and shooting them.

After criticisms of the US asylum system as allowing too many fraudluent claims to get through, the whole system was overhauled in 1996, leaving it the most restrictive asylum system in the industrialized world that it is today. Asylum seekers, and their children, in this country today are detained in prison for months or even years while the immigration service tries to adjudicate the asylum claim. But Sensenbrenner's still not happy. It's still at least theoretically possible for a person fleeing a repressive regime to find asylum in this country - we obviously can't have any of that, so Sensenbrenner's cooked up this latest legislative nightmare to make it even harder for asylum seekers to get fair hearings and easier for the immigration service to deport them without any hearing.

Sensenbrenner's also got a major hard-on for the matter of immigrants obtaining driver's licenses, so wants to advance a national ID, so that we can turn the US officially into a country where the police query you everywhere you go: "Papers, please!"

In other words, be grateful the faith-based community is opposing the Sensenbrenner legislation.

[SoCalDem]

3. Too bad republicans are not brave enough to say what they really want

They want only white, english-speaking, educated immigrants. The fact that they have to be so cagey with their language only screws things up worse than they are. They want people to think they are welcoming, and are only worried about the precious infrastructure costs, when in fact they are racist xenophobes..

As long as "immigrants" tend their lawns, care for their kids, pick their strawberries, wash their cars, and work for $4 an hour in their sweatshops and factories, they are perfectly happy.

the fly in the ointment comes when those "immigrants" have families and children to educate and get medical care for.

If the states would just get their shit together and DEMAND that the federal government reimburse them for the additional outlay, the problem would solve itself.

or if the school districts could set up special schools where english was taught in a BIG way... and for the whole family..it woould go a long way towards integrating immigrants into society.

and then there is the issue of the BOSSES who hire the "cheap labor", while there are thousands of unemployed citizen who should be getting those jobs for "real" wages..

1st offense.. $5K fiine for EVERY undocumented worker
2nd offense.. 6 months in JAIL for every undocumented worker
3rd offense.. forfeiture of business, and 10 years in jail..

No businessperson would DARE hire undocumented people if the penalty was severe enough..

They do it because they CAN

[Ian David]

4. Well, we know the playbook now. Here's what needs to happen

To:

The Human Rights Campaign
National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce
Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders

Please tell President Bush that you will back his new immigration plan under the condition that it make provisions to recognize gay partners as equal to marriage for immigration purposes. And to also recognize people who are being persecuted for homosexuality abroad.

That will pretty much poison the well and kill this thing.

It seems like it may be working on the Social Security issue, anyway.

[Ian David]

5. Make sure they know Santorum is soft on illegals

http://grades.betterimmigration.com/testgrades.php3?District=PA&VIPID=683

Apparently, Santorum is soft on them thar ee-legal aye-lee-ins sneakin' cross our bore-durrs.

[primavera]

11. Current fine is $11K per unauthorized worker

The tricky bit is, you have to prove that the employer knowingly hired an unauthorized worker. Fraudulent documents are cheap and plentiful, so an employer who is trying to comply with the law can be fooled, and an employer who wants to circumvent the law can cover his ass by claiming that the immigrant presented proper documentation establishing his or her employment eligibility.

Some argue that you therefore need to get rid of all of the documents which one can use to establish one's authorization to work to just one impregnable, unreproducable, super identity document. But then, of course, what about all of the people who are actually authorized to work here who don't yet have this superdocument? As it stands now, the system recognizes that different people from different countries and states may have different - but nevertheless legitimate - documents, so you can present different kinds of documents.

There's also the question of how badly do we want to catch undocumented workers, who are doing such a good job of keeping the produce in your local grocery store nice and cheap? Lots of thorny questions associated with this issue.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

12. but they need brown, uneducated immigrants to tend their lawns.

They love brown people who work for nothing.
They need day laborers to fuel this economy and rack up their profits.

I think this is all BS. They need the flow of illegals. Terrorism be damned. That's why Bush has done so little on it.

[SoCalDem]

13. Exactly..They use this as a straw man argument

they "claim" to be against illegal immigration, when they benefit too much to EVER really stop it.. In the meantime, their "faux outrage" allows them to harangue and demonize the very people who do their dirty work.. Every election season they drag the bloody shirt out and wave it in front of their xenophobic base :puke:

[sweetheart]

7. The fence along the mexican border

What a brilliant idea. It should be at least 1000 feet tall to
prevent low flying aircraft, and be dug 100 feet deep in to the ground
to prevent moles and burrowing. Better if it has a huge 20 foot
diameter coil of razor wire on the top so as to make prison america
defensible.

Then they'll need guard towers, trained attack dogs and lotsa guns to
shoot anyone escaping from ameriKa... i'd even bet they could hire
experts in building such fences from east germany.... those republicans
are nothing if not brilliant ! ;-)

[LiviaOlivia]

10. It's all to do with Social Security, etc.

They want cheap labor and they would like to absolish the Minimum Wage. But if the govermnment recognizes illegals then they can't justify abolishing Social Security, etc