Fred Thomson is a Man with a Plan

Thompson Says Campaign Is 'Where It Needs To Be' Before Caucus

Despite sitting a distant third in the latest GOP presidential poll, in Iowa, republican Fred Thompson says his campaign is "where it needs to be" with less than two weeks to the first-in-the-nation caucus. Friday morning, Thompson spoke to about 60 people at the Daily Grind, in downtown Sioux City. It's the 16-th stop on bus tour of more than 50 Iowa cities leading up to the caucus. When picking a president, Thompson says the decision comes down to two things... "the man, and the plan." Thompson claims "clear, conservative" positions on issues like immigration... where he backs the border fence, and penalties for businesses that knowingly hire illegals. But, Thompson says "job one" for the next president won't be about simply securing our borders... rather securing our nation. "We live in more dangerous times than ever before," Thompson said. "We have a more diversified set of enemies than ever before. And, they're trying to get their hands on the most dangerous weapons known to man to use on us." [more here]

Fred Thompson on Immigration

Earlier I had posted about Mike Huckabee's Nine-point plan on the border and immigration. I would like to post Fred Thompson's plan on immigration. I am not saying Mike Huckabee's plan is bad, I think Fred Thompson's plan is tougher. With Fred Thompson I could see him down at the border grabbing illegals by the scruff of the neck and giving them a good kick in the butt and watch them flying back to where they came from. Mike Huckabee would be down at the border sitting them down and telling them why they can't cross the border illegally, putting his arm around them and walking them back to the border. Here is Fred Thompson's plan.

• Border Security and Immigration Reform Plan

• In the post-9/11 world, immigration is much more of a national security issue. A government that cannot secure its borders and determine who may enter and who may not, fails in a fundamental responsibility. As we take steps to secure our borders and enforce our laws, we must also ensure that our immigration laws and policies advance our national interests in a variety of areas, and that the immigration process itself is as fair, efficient, and effective as possible.

• Securing the Border and Enforcing the Law

• A fundamental responsibility of the federal government is to secure the nation's borders and enforce the law. The following policies and initiatives will put the nation on a path to success:
  

1. No Amnesty. Do not provide legal status to illegal aliens...
2. Attrition through Enforcement . Reduce the number of illegal aliens through increased enforcement against unauthorized alien workers and their employers.
3. Enforce Existing Federal Laws. Enforce the laws Congress has already enacted to prevent illegal aliens from unlawfully benefiting from their presence in the country:...
4. Reduce the Jobs Incentive. Ensure employee verification by requiring that all U.S. employers use the Department of Homeland Security's electronic database (the E-Verify system) to confirm that a prospective employee is authorized to work in the U.S...
5. Add to the Cost of Hiring Illegal Aliens. Deny a tax deduction to employers for the wages they pay to illegal aliens, thereby dramatically increasing the real cost of employing illegal aliens...
6. Bolster Border Security. Finish building the 854-mile wall along the border by 2010 as required by 8 USC 1103...
7. Increased Prosecution. Deploy the additional assets outlined above to prosecute alien smugglers ("coyotes"), alien gang members, previously deported felons, and aliens who have repeatedly violated our immigration laws much more vigorously.
8. Rigorous Entry/Exit Tracking. Complete the implementation of a system to track visa entrants and exits, as has been required by federal law for more than ten years, and connect it to the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC), in order to curb visa overstays and permit more effective enforcement.

• Improving the Legal Immigration Process
• The United States is a nation of immigrants. We must continue to welcome immigrants and foreign workers who come to our country legally, giving priority to those who can advance the nation's interests and common good. Immigrants and foreign workers who play by the rules need to be rewarded with faster and less burdensome service, not delays that last years. Advancing the following initiatives will require close cooperation between all levels of government, the business community, and concerned citizens:

1. Maximize Program Efficiency. Reduce the backlogs and streamline the process for immigrants and employers who seek to follow the law...
2. Enhanced Reporting. Improve reporting to the government by businesses that rely on temporary workers so that the government can track whether the visa holder remains employed.
3. Modernize Immigration Law/Policy. Change the nature of our legal immigration system to welcome immigrants who can be economic contributors to our country, are willing to learn the English language, and want to assimilate...
4. English As Official Language. Make English the official language of the United States to promote assimilation and legal immigrants' success, and require English proficiency in order for any foreign person to be granted lawful permanent resident status.
5. Freedom from Political Oppression. Preserve U.S. laws and policies to ensure that the United States remains a beacon and a haven for persons fleeing political oppression, while assuring appropriate admission standards are maintained.
6. Service to Country. Place those foreign persons who are lawfully present in the country and who serve honorably in the Armed Forces of the United States on a faster, surer track to U.S. citizenship.

Read the plan here.

The Secure America Plan

Mike Huckabee's Nine-Point plan to Secure America Plan.

1. Build the Fence
2. Increase Border Patrol
3. Prevent Amnesty
4. Enforce the Law on Employers
5. Establish an Economic Border
6. Empower Local Authorities
7. Ensure Document Security
8. Discourage Dual Citizenship
9. Modernize the Process of Legal Immigration

Check out all the points in detail here.

Founder of Minuteman Project Endorses Mike Huckabee

• December 11, 2007 - 03:05 PM

• 
  

• Jim Gilchrist Endorses Mike Huckabee

• 
  

• by Team Huckabee

• LITTLE ROCK, AR – In Iowa today, former Arkansas Governor and Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee received a major endorsement from Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project.
• Huckabee said he was honored to receive the endorsement. “No one can question Jim's commitment to this country and the immigration problem. He has mobilized a group of volunteers to go to the border and draw attention to the issue of immigration. All of us want a policy where people come to this country through the front door, not the back door,” said Huckabee during a morning news conference.
• Gilchrist added, "Governor Huckabee actually wrote a plan that I can embrace. I found his ‘Secure America’ plan would open the dialogue and help begin the process of solving the illegal immigration problem.”
• Gilchrist, who founded the Minuteman Project in 2004, said he appreciated Huckabee’s plan to secure America ’s borders.
• Last week, Huckabee unveiled “The Secure America Plan: A Nine-Point Strategy for Immigration Enforcement and Border Security.” Huckabee said he believes in adopting the best policy ideas to provide a “tough, equitable and comprehensive approach” to dealing with the current immigration crisis.

Read the rest here.

Now I am Suspicious

Check out this article;

• Immigrants Could Face Tighter Rules in Michigan

• 
  
• By CATRIN EINHORN
• Published: November 18, 2007
• Several Michigan lawmakers, frustrated with the defeat in Congress of an immigration law overhaul, are proposing state laws to punish employers who hire illegal immigrants.
• The lawmakers, all Democrats from the state House, offered a package of bills late last week intended to crack down on employers, making it a felony to hire an illegal immigrant knowingly. Violation could mean fines of up to $250,000 and as much as five years in prison for repeat offenders.
• The sponsors said the legislation would be formally introduced this month in the House. “We have no legal weapons right now in the state of Michigan,” said State Representative Kate Elbi, one of the sponsors. “What we’re doing is giving our state the tools that we need.”

Why am I suspicious? The lawmakers who offered the bills are Democrats? Either I need to be suspicious of Michigan Republicans not caring as much as they say about illegal immigration or I need to be suspicious of these Democrats that there is "more that meets the eye."
Read the rest here.

Damn Good Monologue from Glenn Beck

Email intro from Glenn Beck.

• Compean & Ramos update

• Johnny Sutton has finally arrested the drug smuggler that was the key to putting Ramos and Compean behind bars. We find out today that there were two loads of drugs and the federal government knew who this guy was for quite some time. And they caught him twice doing another 750 kilos of dope and another large shipment before the trial but they kept all of that quiet and didn't arrest him. Meanwhile they gave him border passes, "Get out of jail free" cards, basically. The dirtbag's name is Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, he was shot in the buttocks in February 2005 after fleeing from border agents (Compean & Ramos) during a smuggling attempt, has been indicted on charges of smuggling marijuana in September and October of that year. Glenn has never felt anything like he has lately---and that is a complete and total distrust by the American people of our government. We've always known that politicians are dopes, but evil? Glenn has generally not made that leap, but with the timing of the news release (buried heading into a weekend) and other facts surrounding the case, Glenn has reason to be suspicious of our government. Read the transcript of Glenn's explanation. (Insiders listen here).

Now for the monologue. I was rather torn if I should provide the full article or just a part, but this is too dang good to leave any of it out. I urge you, dear reader, to check out his website and the border issue in general.

• Glenn’s Monologue on the Border

• NOVEMBER 16, 2007
• GLENN BECK PROGRAM
  BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
• GLENN: We're talking about the border and what the latest is. Some pretty massive news coming out today. Johnny Sutton has finally arrested the drug smuggler that was the key to putting Ramos and Compean behind bars. We find out today that there were two, two loads that came in of drugs and the federal government knew who this guy was for quite some time and they caught him twice doing, you know, another 750 kilos of dope and another large shipment as well before the trial but they kept all of that quiet and didn't arrest him. Meanwhile they gave him border passes, "Get out of jail free" cards basically. We're talking about that today. That's huge news. Something doesn't feel right. I don't know what it is yet. Can't put my finger on it but I just, it's not right. Something's not right here and the timing is sure suspicious. Here we are the week before Thanksgiving. They catch him on a Thursday night. Friday it's not in the papers yet. It will be in the papers on Saturday but nobody's reading it because not only is it Saturday, it is also the holiday weekend. So nobody's going to be able to talk about this or do anything for at least a week, maybe two weeks. So it kind of -- that's old news. Learn that from Hillary Clinton campaign, "Well, that's just old news. " So the timing is just wrong here.

  Border Patrol Fundraiser Shirt ***All of Glenn's proceeds from the sale of this shirt will be donated to a legal defense fund for Agents Ramos and Compean.*** To quote Col. Nathan Jessep--Jack Nicholson's character from, A Few Good Men--"Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns." That's true, and some of the men guarding our walls are U.S. Border Patrol Agents. Thing is…if one of those Border Agents tries to protect our walls with their guns, they might just end up in prison for the next 11 years. That's what happened to agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. You've heard me talk about the injustice done to these brave men, and you know that I'm outraged. I invite you to join me in showing both your anger and commitment to setting them free by wearing one of these t-shirts: "U.S. Border Patrol…To Protect And Serve Time." It's the least we can do for two men who have done the most…men with families who are unfairly paying the price for doing their duty, showing their bravery, and trying to keep all Americans safe.

• But I want to -- I just want to speak, and I may be only speaking to 10 people, but I have to tell you that my gut has been telling me for a while something is really, really wrong and we are being -- I mean, listen to T. J. Bonner. I mean, here's the head of the union of the border patrol and he is saying "I don't trust my government, I don't trust my government on this." That's a mouthful. When we don't trust our government, we're in trouble. And you know what? I have to tell you, I don't trust the people in the government, either. I trust some of them, but I don't trust all of them, and I just think that there are -- you know, there are those secret combinations, there are things going on that don't bode well for the sovereignty and for the security of the United States of America, and I outlined some of them in the book that goes out on the bookshelves on Tuesday, "An Inconvenient Book" but let me speak specifically about -- and give you a warning of something that I feel those who are awake need to prepare for and to be a salve and to keep your wits about you and to watch what's going on.
  
  I've been doing this now for 30 years. I have seen all kinds of things in radio. I have seen all -- I've lived all over the country. I have talked to listeners for years and years and years. I know with my gut and with my fingers on the pulse, I can tell you that I'm not the best judge of a lot of things, but my gut is very, very good on -- I don't know how to put my finger on it -- on sensing the mood of the country, and I am sensing that it -- and this is a very deep undercurrent but it is going to grow, and we must be aware of it. There are real people that are very disconnected from the government, and I understand it, but I am warning you that I think that some of these people -- and it's a very small minority -- they are hiding in different locations, they are calling themselves different things, but I'm telling you that a very small minority can make a very big difference in this country and I'm going to give you two examples of this and I'm not going to -- I'm not going to give you the -- I'm not going to give you the subject line of what they were talking about but these are two pieces of mail that have come in from vastly different people. This one came in. I want you to hear this: Thank you for your service, Mr. Beck, in destroying America. You've done a great job serving the elite. Please drop your pants down and bend over for the elite members to consensually rape you. Have it your way, traitor. When the dollar crashes, we will know who to pick off like an exterminator ridding the house of scurrying rats. You are a traitor who will face the justice when the time comes for propagandists that strive to kiss the establishment's ass and destroy America in the process. I hope the millions of dollars satisfy your hungry pang of greed to spew propaganda and vitriol. When the dollar crashes, your bank account will be worthless. Got it? That's from one kind of person that thinks that I am in on not pointing out that there is something afoot with the dollar, there's something going on, we're being sold out economically and this all ties again, I believe, to what's happening on the border. So there's one group that is telling me I want to say -- let me just say that again -- that I will be picked off, they will be like exterminators, and I am a traitor who will, quote, face justice when the time comes.
  
  Then there's another one. Try this one on for size. Because at some point I have said that waterboarding is okay and I believe waterboarding probably is okay but I am also against torture like what happened in Abu Ghraib. I want you to listen to this threat: Torture is illegal, yet the TV threat is trying to teach America that we the people haven't spoken on this issue. I beg -- he's not talking to me. He's talking to others -- I beg, please fight back for humanity by not accepting a Zionist betrayal of God on this subject. TV celebrities -- like me -- are programming that waterboarding, head-slapping and the burning of no one people to death for treasonous Bush-ites Satanic pleasure is arguably in support of defending my dying America through assisting in the neocon's escape for 9/11. Death to the torturers of the innocent people. Death to the enemies of Christ in America.
  
  I will tell you that I have not seen this kind of vitriol before and I have volumes of it. I have not seen it. This comes from us dividing -- not us but our political parties dividing us, making people believe that half the country hates America. Both sides have done it and so now the reasonable Americans no longer have any real power because we've been divided.
  
  Gang, someday it may be my dying breath, but I am telling you we're in trouble, and I am telling you that we must unite. Republican, Democrat, independent, I don't -- you know, from the Ron Paul supporter to the Obama supporter to the Giuliani supporter, we have got to listen to each other and we have got to listen to reason because 50% of America does not hate America.
  
  I believe there is probably between 5 and 10% of Americans that hate America and those people are very angry right now, and I hate to say it but in some ways you can make a case for some of the things that they are saying because we have been sold out and we're being sold out more and more every day. But unless the middle part of America, unless that 90% of America wakes up and corrects the problem in their own party, in their own politicians, the 10% are going to pull us apart and we are in for dangerous, dangerous times. Please, please, I'm begging of you, wake up, the people that will wake up because trouble is on the horizon.
• END TRANSCRIPT [source]
  

Where's the Fence?!

While border and immigration issues are no laughing matter, I thought I would give this laugh. It's a video I found over at Solum Veritas (Only Truth). Watch, enjoy and laugh!

Why I Still Like Ike

No that is not a misspelling. I Like Mike, but I thought I would bring this to the attention of anyone who is concerned with border security. I found this interesting article from the Christian Science Monitor. It is about how and why Dwight D. Eisenhower took care of the border issue in 1954. I am including the entire article.

Some people may think that what happened 53 years ago isn't important, but as you will see Ike did all this with less than one-tenth the amount of border agents. Dwight Eisenhower ardently stood up against corruption. That's how his words became actions. This country needs another Ike. This country needs someone who is honest, someone who is willing to ruffle feathers to do what is right and buck the "business as usual" system.

• from the July 06, 2006 edition
  How Eisenhower solved illegal border crossings from Mexico
  By John Dillin WASHINGTON – George W. Bush isn't the first Republican president to face a full-blown immigration crisis on the US-Mexican border.
  Fifty-three years ago, when newly elected Dwight Eisenhower moved into the White House, America's southern frontier was as porous as a spaghetti sieve. As many as 3 million illegal migrants had walked and waded northward over a period of several years for jobs in California, Arizona, Texas, and points beyond.
  
  President Eisenhower cut off this illegal traffic. He did it quickly and decisively with only 1,075 United States Border Patrol agents - less than one-tenth of today's force. The operation is still highly praised among veterans of the Border Patrol.
  Although there is little to no record of this operation in Ike's official papers, one piece of historic evidence indicates how he felt. In 1951, Ike wrote a letter to Sen. William Fulbright (D) of Arkansas. The senator had just proposed that a special commission be created by Congress to examine unethical conduct by government officials who accepted gifts and favors in exchange for special treatment of private individuals.
  General Eisenhower, who was gearing up for his run for the presidency, said "Amen" to Senator Fulbright's proposal. He then quoted a report in The New York Times, highlighting one paragraph that said: "The rise in illegal border-crossing by Mexican 'wetbacks' to a current rate of more than 1,000,000 cases a year has been accompanied by a curious relaxation in ethical standards extending all the way from the farmer-exploiters of this contraband labor to the highest levels of the Federal Government."
  Years later, the late Herbert Brownell Jr., Eisenhower's first attorney general, said in an interview with this writer that the president had a sense of urgency about illegal immigration when he took office.
  America "was faced with a breakdown in law enforcement on a very large scale," Mr. Brownell said. "When I say large scale, I mean hundreds of thousands were coming in from Mexico [every year] without restraint."
  Although an on-and-off guest-worker program for Mexicans was operating at the time, farmers and ranchers in the Southwest had become dependent on an additional low-cost, docile, illegal labor force of up to 3 million, mostly Mexican, laborers.
  According to the Handbook of Texas Online, published by the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas State Historical Association, this illegal workforce had a severe impact on the wages of ordinary working Americans. The Handbook Online reports that a study by the President's Commission on Migratory Labor in Texas in 1950 found that cotton growers in the Rio Grande Valley, where most illegal aliens in Texas worked, paid wages that were "approximately half" the farm wages paid elsewhere in the state.
  Profits from illegal labor led to the kind of corruption that apparently worried Eisenhower. Joseph White, a retired 21-year veteran of the Border Patrol, says that in the early 1950s, some senior US officials overseeing immigration enforcement "had friends among the ranchers," and agents "did not dare" arrest their illegal workers.
  Walt Edwards, who joined the Border Patrol in 1951, tells a similar story. He says: "When we caught illegal aliens on farms and ranches, the farmer or rancher would often call and complain [to officials in El Paso]. And depending on how politically connected they were, there would be political intervention. That is how we got into this mess we are in now."
  Bill Chambers, who worked for a combined 33 years for the Border Patrol and the then-called US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), says politically powerful people are still fueling the flow of illegals.
  During the 1950s, however, this "Good Old Boy" system changed under Eisenhower - if only for about 10 years.
  In 1954, Ike appointed retired Gen. Joseph "Jumpin' Joe" Swing, a former West Point classmate and veteran of the 101st Airborne, as the new INS commissioner.
  Influential politicians, including Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson (D) of Texas and Sen. Pat McCarran (D) of Nevada, favored open borders, and were dead set against strong border enforcement, Brownell said. But General Swing's close connections to the president shielded him - and the Border Patrol - from meddling by powerful political and corporate interests.
  One of Swing's first decisive acts was to transfer certain entrenched immigration officials out of the border area to other regions of the country where their political connections with people such as Senator Johnson would have no effect.
  Then on June 17, 1954, what was called "Operation Wetback" began. Because political resistance was lower in California and Arizona, the roundup of aliens began there. Some 750 agents swept northward through agricultural areas with a goal of 1,000 apprehensions a day. By the end of July, over 50,000 aliens were caught in the two states. Another 488,000, fearing arrest, had fled the country.
  By mid-July, the crackdown extended northward into Utah, Nevada, and Idaho, and eastward to Texas.
  By September, 80,000 had been taken into custody in Texas, and an estimated 500,000 to 700,000 illegals had left the Lone Star State voluntarily.
  Unlike today, Mexicans caught in the roundup were not simply released at the border, where they could easily reenter the US. To discourage their return, Swing arranged for buses and trains to take many aliens deep within Mexico before being set free.
  Tens of thousands more were put aboard two hired ships, the Emancipation and the Mercurio. The ships ferried the aliens from Port Isabel, Texas, to Vera Cruz, Mexico, more than 500 miles south.
  The sea voyage was "a rough trip, and they did not like it," says Don Coppock, who worked his way up from Border Patrolman in 1941 to eventually head the Border Patrol from 1960 to 1973.
  Mr. Coppock says he "cannot understand why [President] Bush let [today's] problem get away from him as it has. I guess it was his compassionate conservatism, and trying to please [Mexican President] Vincente Fox."
  There are now said to be 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens in the US. Of the Mexicans who live here, an estimated 85 percent are here illegally.

Also, check this out.

• Border Patrol vets offer tips on curbing illegal immigration
  One day in 1954, Border Patrol agent Walt Edwards picked up a newspaper in Big Spring, Texas, and saw some startling news. The government was launching an all-out drive to oust illegal aliens from the United States.
  The orders came straight from the top, where the new president, Dwight Eisenhower, had put a former West Point classmate, Gen. Joseph Swing, in charge of immigration enforcement.
  General Swing's fast-moving campaign soon secured America's borders - an accomplishment no other president has since equaled. Illegal migration had dropped 95 percent by the late 1950s.
  Several retired Border Patrol agents who took part in the 1950s effort, including Mr. Edwards, say much of what Swing did could be repeated today.
  "Some say we cannot send 12 million illegals now in the United States back where they came from. Of course we can!" Edwards says.
  Donald Coppock, who headed the Patrol from 1960 to 1973, says that if Swing and Ike were still running immigration enforcement, "they'd be on top of this in a minute."
  William Chambers, another '50s veteran, agrees. "They could do a pretty good job" sealing the border.
  Edwards says: "When we start enforcing the law, these various businesses are, on their own, going to replace their [illegal] workforce with a legal workforce."
  While Congress debates building a fence on the border, these veterans say other actions should have higher priority.
  1. End the current practice of taking captured Mexican aliens to the border and releasing them. Instead, deport them deep into Mexico, where return to the US would be more costly.
  2. Crack down hard on employers who hire illegals. Without jobs, the aliens won't come.
  3. End "catch and release" for non-Mexican aliens. It is common for illegal migrants not from Mexico to be set free after their arrest if they promise to appear later before a judge. Few show up.
  The Patrol veterans say enforcement could also be aided by a legalized guest- worker program that permits Mexicans to register in their country for temporary jobs in the US. Eisenhower's team ran such a program. It permitted up to 400,000 Mexicans a year to enter the US for various agriculture jobs that lasted for 12 to 52 weeks.

There will be more Ike articles to come soon. Please read and ask yourself if we need someone like Ike again.

Two Goals - From Mike Huckabee

Email from Mike Huckabee:

Dear Friend,
I am busy campaigning in Iowa today but I wanted to reach out to you with an update on where things stand.

I spent yesterday in Davenport where I met hundreds of interested voters. Education, health care, border security, Iraq and out of control Washington spending are on the minds of voters here. Which isn't suprising, because wherever I go these are the issues people are talking about.

As I have said in previous emails our campaign is continuing to gain ground. Our online fundraising is picking up and our website traffic is building, especially in Iowa. Which is good news because the Iowa Straw Poll is only 18 days away and we still have a ways to go and very real goals we must meet as a campaign. Its my hope that you will once again help us.

1) By this Friday at midnight we need 1,000 online Vounteers to send emails to their friends, family members and co-workers encouraging them to join our campaign. You can do so by visiting the "Build Our Base" section of the website. The last time we set this goal over 2,000 of you participated. A great result and one we need to duplicate.

2) Make an immediate online contribution to our campaign of $15, $25, $35, $50, $70 or even $140. We must raise 400 contributions by Friday at midnight, so I hope you will take a moment now to make a contribution in support of our campaign. We will invest the contribution you make immediately into our grassroots field operations nationally.

Your support has helped fuel this campaign and your continued support is critical in the remaining 18 days before the Ames Straw Poll. If you have already made a contribution, now is the time to seriously consider making another. The amount you contribute isn't as important as your participation. Thank you!
With deep gratitude,

Secure our Borders FIRST!

Check out this post from over at, That's Saul Folks, Michigan GOP's blog. Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, pictured at right, talks about the importance of securing the borders first and speaking out against amnesty.

• Never before has protecting our borders and securing our homeland been more important. Yet, a bill in the United States Senate would allow an estimated 12 million to 20 million illegally in America a pathway to citizenship with relative ease.
  Remember, that to gain a legal job, they must also commit identity theft. That is one of the fastest growing crimes in America. Giving illegal entrants to America citizenship sends the message that it is OK to break the rules, even though we are a nation governed by laws.

More:

• We need immigration reform that is secure, timely, balanced and accountable. However, the clear and pressing need is to secure our borders first. Anything less will only bring further financial, economic and social trouble to the United States.
  Webster's Dictionary defines amnesty as, "government pardon granted to a number of offenders." That definition and provisions in the recently introduced immigration reform bill sound very similar.

He closes with a quote from Teddy Roosevelt:

• "In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American. ...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag we have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

How he lost the election for U.S. Senate is beyond me. Click on the link above to read the full article.