Amnesty and Betrayal

By William Norman Grigg, February 9, 2004; published in Stop the FTAA and New American

President Bush’s proposed immigration reform package is a shocking betrayal of our nation’s sovereignty, culture and economy. It must not be allowed to pass...

“This plan is not amnesty, placing undocumented workers on the automatic path of citizenship,” insisted Mr. Bush at a January 12 press conference in Monterrey, Mexico, as he stood alongside Mexican President Vicente Fox. “I oppose amnesty because it encourages the violation of our laws and perpetuates illegal immigration.”...

It’s vitally important to recognize that the Bush plan would not be limited to the current illegal alien population, which is commonly estimated to be 6-12 million (but may be 20 million or more). As the president’s own words demonstrate, it would also extend to “those in foreign countries who seek to participate in the program.”...

Supposedly, those coming from foreign countries would need a job offer in advance of their arrival. But the president’s invitation had an immediate, and quite predictable, effect. “The U.S. Border Patrol marks January 7 as the day illegal crossing numbers surge,” reported a January 10 Arizona Star dispatch from the Mexican border town of Hermosillo. “We’re starting to see an increase already,” commented Border Patrol spokesman Andy Adame. It’s reasonable to expect that a similar “amnesty rush” is underway elsewhere as millions — or tens of millions — of others race to take advantage of the Bush plan...

Ah, but that plan isn’t an amnesty, insists the president, clinging to his official fiction with Clintonian tenacity. Representative Ron Paul (R-Texas) has no use for such evasions. “Millions of people who broke the law by entering, staying, and working in our country will not be punished, but rather rewarded with a visa,” comments Rep. Paul. “This is amnesty, plain and simple. Lawbreakers are given legal status, while those seeking to immigrate legally face years of paperwork and long waits for a visa.”...

More disturbing still is the fact that the Bush plan represents merely the first installment. The Mexican regime has already broadcast demands for further concessions...

Shortly after taking office, Mr. Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox signed a document called the “Guanajuato Proposal,” pledging that their governments would “strive to consolidate a North American economic community whose benefits reach the lesser-developed areas of the region and extend to the most vulnerable social groups in our countries.”

Within a few months of that declaration, the Mexican government had composed a five-point program to hasten “consolidation” with the U.S.:

  • Legalization of “undocumented” workers (that is, illegal aliens from Mexico);
  • An expanded permanent visas program;
  • An enhanced guest workers visas program;
  • Border control cooperation;
  • Economic development in immigrant-sending regions of Mexico.

Every American worthy of the name must not accept this incredible betrayal — and must not allow it to be consummated.

Read the complete article.