View From Lodi, CA: Beware The Looming Bush "Guest-Worker" Haymaker

By Joe Guzzardi

08/05/2005

The good news is that Congress is in recess.

The bad news is that it gave Americans such a thorough street mugging during its last week in session that the country will be reeling for months.

But is the worst — President George W. Bush’s amnesty/guest worker program — yet to come?

When Congress reconvenes in September, Bush wants "action" on immigration. As we all saw last week, what Bush wants, Bush gets.

He isn’t timid about how he gets it either.

Bush muscled doubters and broke rules to get his way on an energy bill, a highway bill and the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement.

U.S. Representative Jim Kolbe, (R-Arizona) summarized it this way, "Twist some Republican arms until they break in a thousand pieces."

Knuckling under to Bush, lawmakers approved a massive highway bill as well as an equally eye-popping energy bill that outrageously included tax breaks for the filthy rich oil companies.

The highway bill includes more than 6,300 projects worth in excess of $283 billion. [Bush Draws Heat from Conservatives on Highway Bill, By Caren Bohan, Washington Post, July 30, 2005]

And an $80 billion energy bill will create $15 billion in subsidies for oil, gas and energy companies even though those industries are racking up record profits.

Criticizing the energy bill as one that will not lower gas prices or reduce our dependence on foreign oil but one that will buy votes, Jill Lancelot, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense said:

"This is the lobbyist backyard barbecue bill, because every energy interest is going home with its pockets stuffed with pork, while taxpayers get roasted."

Bush traded $50 billion in pork-laden favors in the energy and transportation bills to guarantee passage of another bill he has been lusting after, the DR-CAFTA.

A new trade agreement, yet another thing Americans didn’t want, will mean more lost jobs for U.S. workers. We know we can kiss the jobs good-bye because we've seen the sad consequences of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Regarding DR-CAFTA, Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) predicted, accurately, "This will be a vote in the middle of the night. They'll keep the vote open for several hours, in violation of the rules. If it passes, it will be by fewer than five votes." [CAFTA’s Upshot More Political Than Economic, Paul Blustein and Mike Allen, Washington Post, July 27, 2005].

After the official 15-minute time period for voting had expired, DR-CAFTA was dead 180-175. But Congressional leaders left the voting open (a violation of House rules) until the final vote had turned in CAFTA’s favor, 217-215.

(Note: I spoke with a representative in Congressman Richard Pombo’s office who told me that Pombo had "serious reservations" about CAFTA. But in the end Pombo, like every other California Republican, voted yes.)

Now Bush is preparing to throw his immigration haymaker.

For nearly five years, Bush has been encouraging the Legislative branch to create a guest- worker program that provides amnesty to illegal immigrants already in the country. [Congressmen Urge Bush to Drop Guest-Worker Plan, Jerry Seper, Washington Times, November 17, 2004]

In preparation for September’s hard sell the White House has put together a so-called coalition of business leaders and immigration advocates absurdly and incorrectly named Americans for Border and Economic Security.

Admission to the new group will cost between $50,000 and $250,000 with the dues used to fund an all-out campaign to promote cheap labor. [Immigration Rising on Bush’s To-Do List, Peter Wallsten and Nicole Gaouette, Los Angeles Times, July 24, 2005]

Right now, two competing immigration bills have been introduced in the Senate. Summarized briefly, they are:

• The Cornyn-Kyl bill that Bush seems to favor would give temporary legal status for five years to illegal aliens, their spouses and children. Then, supposedly, they would have to return home. The bill also creates a guest worker program, but promises to create a tamper-proof social security care, reinforce the border and conduct vigorous workplace site checks to fine employers who hire illegal immigrants. (Read Juan Mann’s analysis here: The Cornyn-Kyl Bill (S. 1438) — The Same Old Arizona Amnesty Sham!)

• The McCain-Kennedy bill increases immigration by 400,000 people annually and allows those illegally in the country to pay a token fine to be put on a path to citizenship.

The unasked questions are more compelling than analyzing the legislation’s fine print.

• With 14 million Americans unable to find full-time employment, who determines what America’s labor need is?

• How will the programs be implemented?

• Who sets the wage before the determination is made that "no American will do the job"?

• Will the children of guest workers become automatic American citizens? If so, who can insure that the family, by then parents to an anchor baby, will return home after its work period has expired?

Contemplating the Cornyn-Kyl bill, Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said:

"When it comes to immigration policy, the promises made to the immigrants invariably get kept, but the commitment to the American public to protect our borders, security, and jobs too often fall by the wayside."

As Stein implies, the promises made by Cornyn and Kyl have been made and broken before. Remember too that only an infinitesimal percentage of illegal immigrants ever return home.

Realists expect that more illegal immigration is the only thing likely to come out of any new guest worker program.

If Congress were serious about controlling immigration, it would enforce our existing laws.