MYTH vs. FACT: Immigration Reform Will Introduce Over 30 Million New Foreign Workers To America
Please post your response to this article. What do you like and what do you not like about this approach to our illegal immigration problem? What is a practical alternative to solving the problem of millions of illegal immigrants living in the US “under the radar” and given “sanctuary” from existing laws in many parts of the country?
MYTH: Passing the immigration bill will result in over 30 million new foreign workers.
- Senator Jeff Sessions: “We are talking about legislation that will impact virtually every aspect of our society, reshape our entire immigration system, introduce at least 30 million new foreign workers into the economy, and directly impact every single American worker and taxpayer.” (“Sessions Demands More Time on Immigration Bill,” NewsMax, 4/16/13)
FACT: Currently one million people legally immigrate to the United States every year – more than any other nation in the world and a key reason our nation, even with a retiring Baby Boomer generation, does not face severe aging demographic problems like Japan, Russia, and much of Europe. We also currently have about 11 million undocumented people living in the United States who are never leaving because they have families, jobs and roots in our communities. Under our proposal, those living here illegally will be allowed to apply for permanent residence in 10 years once we clear out the current backlog for about 5 million foreigners waiting to legally immigrate to the United States – a long-delayed process this legislation will finally correct. This legislation does not significantly increase long-term, annual migration to the United States, and will dramatically decrease illegal immigration thanks to new border security and immigration enforcement laws. Bottom-line: the size of the future population of the United States will not be significantly impacted by this legislation.
- When our economy needs foreign workers to fill labor shortages, our modernized system will ensure that future flow of workers is manageable, traceable, fair to American workers, and in line with our economy’s needs.
- “The latest immigration bill would beef up border security, create a path to citizenship for the country’s 11 million immigrants who entered the country illegally, establish a stronger electronic verification system, set a formula to determine future flows of imigrants [sic] and create low skill and agricultural worker programs. The bill would also increase the availability of high-skilled worker visas.” (Lauren Fox, “Rubio reaches out to GOP senators to build momentum for immigration,” US News, 4/17/13)
- “The bill would also dramatically change the way the U.S. grants visas and green cards for future immigrants. Among the changes:
- o Eliminates the diversity visa lottery …
- o Ends the practice of allowing U.S. citizens to petition for green cards for their siblings.
- o Creates a “merit-based” visa, which awards up to 250,000 visas a year based on a point system that measures their education and employment, among other criteria.
- o Increases the cap on the number of H1B visas, which go primarily to college-educated foreigners in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, from 85,000 to 205,000.
- o Creates up to 200,000 visas a year, known as W visas, for people to work in retail, construction, hospitality and janitorial jobs.
Currently, most green cards are issued based on family ties to U.S. citizens – only about 16% of immigrants are granted green cards based on their skills or their possible contributions to the economy. But the changes would increase that number to nearly 50%, said one Senate aide.” (Alan Gomez, “Senate immigration bill offers status, boosts borders,” USA Today, 4/16/13)
Latest threat to the Independence of the Inspector General
The attached correspondence (from the public record) is evidence that County Administrator Bob Weisman is lobbying to get IG Sheryl Steckler fired.
WEAPONS REGISTRATION
It has been a week and the extreme left wing liberal progressives have yet to demand federal registration of all pressure cooker owners.
The hypocrites have not even demanded the issuing of licenses to carry one concealed in a backpack.
OUR GOVERNMENT FAILED US
The primary duty of our government is to protect us.
On April 15, 2013 our government failed us.
Tea party attempting to remake itself?
Anthony Man, in the Sun-Sentinel, examines the status of the tea party in Palm Beach and Broward in this article: Tea party attempting to remake itself which contains quotes from Michael Riordan, Karin Hoffman, Danita Kilcullen, Ira Sabin and others. The article also includes an amusing yet curiously unattractive video of Debbie Wasserman Schultz explaining that the tea party “has never been relevant” in South Florida.
United Stand for America – Tea Party Values in Wellington
The Palm Beach County Tea Party hosted their 2013 tax day rally – United Stand for America, at the Wellington Amphitheatre on Sunday, under a bright blue sky and seasonally warm temperature. South Florida 912 and Martin County Tea Party / 912, and Americans for Prosperity were co-sponsors of the event. Moderated by PBCTP President Mike Riordan, the afternoon’s lineup of speakers covered a variety of conservative themes.
Keynote Kevin Jackson, a conservative blogger and creator of the “Black Sphere”, gave the audience some good advice. “The Republican Party” he said, “is about civil rights, but may have lost its way.”. We need to strengthen it though, not abandon it. For this two things are necessary: infuse the party with warriors, and understand that “liberalism is a disease, AND YOU CAN CATCH IT!”. He cited Colin Powell as an example of one of those who “caught it”.
Local radio personality Joyce Kaufman, heading to Washington on Tuesday to fight against the “gang of eight” immigration bill championed by Marco Rubio, told of politicians settling into office and abandoning the principles that got them elected.
Former NY radio personality Imre Beke likened the taxpayer to a pig with a wooden leg, and the politicians view that “You don’t eat a special pig like that all at one time.”.
Larry Kawa, of American Courage PAC gave us home economics analogies to the federal budget and pointed out the absurdity of the Washington stewardship of the national wealth.
Former Washington DC prosecutor Jeff Shapiro gave us insights into the current discussion of gun rights from his perspective of enforcing the DC gun ban in the pre-Heller days.
We also heard from Angela West about her new blog “Republican Coffee Corner with Angela“, PBC GOP Chair Ira Sabin, South Florida 912 Founder Shannon Armstrong, Martin County 912 leader Cindy Lucas, Republican Black Caucus leader Sean Jackson, and Leigh Lamson, the leader of the Port St. Lucie Tea Party/912.
Some pictures from the event:
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Problem Solving
Hello, Fellow Lovers of Liberty!
I want to thank all of your who are planning with your friends and your family to come out to the United Stand for America. We appreciate your sharing and promoting of this pivotal event.
We all know that America is in dire circumstances on many levels. Our economic problems are glaring and obvious. Yet the cause of that looming catastrophe is not fundamentally economic, it is caused by misguided – or nonexistent – principles. We need to approach the solution to this problem and others not in a superficial fashion, but by addressing our solutions to the causes of the issues.
These solutions will be simple in principle and concept, though they will by no means be easy to carry out. Nevertheless it is absolutely imperative that we carry out the effort. Our children’s lives, and their children’s lives…in fact our own lives, are jeopardized by the huge amount of debt we are all assuming, on a scale never before imagined in any generation before.
I have 2 young children growing up facing this burden, and I fear that, if we as a nation do not immediately begin to be economically responsible, my children will be living in a very different country than the one we all grew up knowing…and it will happen because we allowed it to happen.
Yet, even in the face of this crisis, we are pressured to toe party lines on stereotyped grounds, and those people who choose not to occupy the box in which they are expected to reside, because of the color of their skin, or their gender, or some other aspect of their background, are reviled, and subject to vitriolic attacks. We absolutely must break out of those stereotyped ways of thinking. We have to reach out to the vast group of people who don’t belong in any stereotype, who may not realize the fact that they are our allies. There are far more of them than you might think. We have to make outreach, and inclusion, a central plank in our platform, instead of the easy acceptance and reinforcement of false presumptions.
We must also remind our fellow Americans just why limited government is so crucial, and help them to recognize that government tinkering and intervention has only acted to decrease our prosperity, as individuals and as a nation. Before we leave for the USA event tomorrow, lets make sure to call our friends and knock on our neighbors’ doors and invite them to come with us and share in the conversation. Let’s invite the business-owners in our neighborhoods, in our personal networks, in our LinkedIn contacts, and point out to them that America the highest corporate income tax rate in the world, beating out openly communist and socialist nations. Because of this, the business environment in America has devolved into a trackless morass.
Just look at the history of Detroit in the last 60 years. Detroit was once among the leading manufacturing regions in the world, and the wealthiest locale in America. Over time, the government’s intervention, coupled with the effects of Union overreaching, priced the workforce in the area out of the market…and contributed to the decline and fall of a great city, which now retains a fraction of its former population, many of whom only stay because they have been so devastated by the economic collapse that they have no ability to go anywhere else.
Do not think we are safe in affluent and wealthy neighborhoods in Palm Beach Country from such possibilities. Detroit is a visceral reminder, a microcosm of what could happen to the entire country. Bloomfield Hills, Michigan used to be so prestigious that the CEO of General Motors, the largest corporation in the world, called it his home. Now it too is suffering from the blight that has stricken the entirety of Southeastern Michigan.
These are also the reasons we in the Palm Beach County Tea Party are so concerned about the Medicaid expansion issue. The public has been misdirected by the fact that the State of Florida is being offered “federal money.” People are being disingenuously misled that the Medicaid expansion is to be financed by free money. Yet we know that it’s not. Federal money means nothing, because there simply is no money there anymore. We are in so much debt that our entire country’s economy is on the verge of collapsing on itself, because right now we aren’t creating anything like enough wealth to keep up with the bills.
We need to go into all levels of communities and remind people about this fact. The attacks by the President on the wealthy are reprehensible smoke and mirrors, stating that they must pay their “fair share” when they already pay the vast majority of the tax revenues, which are being poured into a pit of debt that is being dug far more rapidly than anyone could ever fill it. These wealth-disparaging statements breed enmity between people whose interest coincide, because the primary interest is rapidly becoming simple survival. When each side thinks the other is somehow taking or keep something that doesn’t belong to them–the fallacies that the wealthy have unfairly large amounts of money that they obtained by cheating, or that the poor just want everything given to them and don’t want to work and support themselves–the only ones who benefit are those who would seek power over the lives of others.
That is not the American way. We should be outraged that such concepts are being given respect and credence in our country.
Our speakers tomorrow are some of the most important patriots that we have in the Conservative movement. The very thought of throwing in the towel on our country would never cross their minds. They are reaching out to people from all walks of life, to urge them to take responsibility for their government, for their actions, for their prosperity. These admirable individuals are helping us call America to action, helping us to look at ourselves and reassess our priorities, to reach out to each other as lovers of our country, of freedom, and to recognize that freedom is responsibility for one’s actions.
We must seize this call to action, with the energy born of our righteous indignation, we must be heard…and above all we must be seen, as we lead by example, as we reach out and as we make our STAND. We cannot give up. We cannot let the fact of the dysfunction in Washington or the election last year make us despair. We must be galvanized to action as we have never been before. The loss of the election is no reason not to stand up. We are not looking for a “dear leader,” we are not looking for a “savior.” We are our own only saviors. We are individually responsible.
We must make our Stand, tomorrow, and every day thereafter.
Thank you.
Dominique Feldman
Communications Director
Palm Beach County Tea Party
