Please, no attacking each other. Any attacks will be reported. Keep it civil.

We are in danger of up to 20 Million Illegals being granted amnesty.

There is nothing broken with the Immigration System we have in place.

We just need ICE and local Law Enforcement to enforce the Laws that are already in place.

That means also going after the Employers who hire the Illegal.

Not only do the Illegals rob Americans of jobs, they rob the Legal Immigrant worker of jobs.

Brown from Canada just proves BHO is taking Bush's stance on NAU. We don't need Britain in American Politics.

Obama Vows to Focus on Borders
But Immigration Action Won't Come Until 2010

President Obama took a trip to Mexico for a two-day summit of North American leaders on various issues impacting the United States and neighboring Mexico and Canada.

By Cheryl W. Thompson and William Booth
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, August 11, 2009

GUADALAJARA, Mexico, Aug. 10 -- President Obama, attending a North American summit with the leaders of Mexico and Canada, said Monday that his administration will pursue a comprehensive overhaul of the U.S. immigration system this year but that no action on legislation will happen before 2010.

Wrapping up the two-day meeting, Obama said that there needs to be "a pathway to citizenship" for millions of illegal immigrants in the United States, and that the system must be reworked to avoid tensions with Mexico. Without it, he said, Mexicans will keep crossing the border in dangerous ways and employers will continue exploiting workers. (Employers who are prosecuted stop using Illegals.)

(We have an orderly process already)>>"We can create a system in which you have . . . an orderly process for people to come in, but we're also giving an opportunity for those who are already in the United States to be able to achieve a pathway to citizenship so that they don't have to live in the shadows," Obama said during an hour-long news conference at the Cabañas Cultural Center in downtown Guadalajara. "Am I going to be able to snap my fingers and get this done? No. This is going to be difficult."

The president said he expects draft legislation and sponsors by the end of the year, but no action until 2010 because of more pressing issues, including health-care reform, energy legislation and financial regulatory changes.

"That's a pretty big stack of bills," he said.

Immigration is among the most controversial items on Obama's legislative agenda, with critics opposing what they call an amnesty for illegal workers and businesses concerned about reductions in their labor force. President George W. Bush twice attempted immigration reform during his second term, without success.


Asked about the prospects for immigration legislation in view of the blows to his administration over health care and midterm elections next year, Obama dismissed the idea that the elections would play a role, saying he would not act "on short-term political calculations."

Flanked by Mexican President Felipe Calderón and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Obama also pledged to work with Mexico and Canada on controlling emissions that contribute to global warming and on ensuring that Mexico receives aid for its battle with drug traffickers. (Black smoke is a 24/7 occurance in Acuna, Mexico. I live on top of a hill and see it every day. Raw sewage runs into the Rio Grande at the Border bridge.Been that way for years.)

"We have already seen resources transferred, equipment transferred . . . to help President Calderón in what is a very courageous effort to deal with a set of drug cartels that are not only resulting in extraordinary violence to the people of Mexico, but are also undermining institutions like the police and the judiciary system," he said, attempting to deflect criticism from Mexican officials who have complained that U.S. aid is not coming quickly enough.

Although Obama expressed confidence in the Mexican government's attempt to fight drug cartels with "law enforcement techniques," he reiterated the importance of doing so without violating human rights.

Calderón's government has been criticized by human rights organizations. More than 45,000 troops have been deployed to fight the cartels, and soldiers have been accused of killing, torture, rape and illegal detention. Since Calderón began fighting the cartels after taking office in December 2006, human rights complaints against the military have soared 600 percent, rising to 140 a month this year, according to government statistics. (It's ok for China to abuse humans but, not Mexico.)Must be because Mexico owes us money and we owe China, LOL!!

The Mexican government has begun to hire the first of 9,000 federal police officers who are college-educated and will be trained by U.S., Canadian and other law enforcement agencies, White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske said.

"I am confident that as the national police are trained, as the coordination between the military and local police officials is improved, there is going to be increased transparency and accountability, and that human rights will be observed," Obama said.

Calderón said his government is dedicated to guarding human rights.

"Obviously we have a strong commitment to protect the human rights of everybody -- the victims and even of the criminals themselves," he said. "And anyone who says the contrary certainly would have to prove this -- any case, just one case, where the proper authority has not acted in the correct way."

Calderón asserted that any soldiers or police officers who abused their power have been punished. According to Center Prodh, a human rights group in Mexico, fewer than 1 in 10 of the human rights cases tried in military court result in a conviction.

Calderón said his strategy, which includes the mass deployment of soldiers, is working. "We know that we are destroying their criminal organizations," he said. "We're hitting them hard. We're hitting at the heart of the organizations."

Obama, Calderón and Harper also showed support for Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted as Honduran president in a coup in June. The men agreed that Zelaya should be returned to power. During a visit to Mexico City last week, Zelaya complained that the Obama administration has offered only a tepid response to the coup leaders. Obama has been repeatedly criticized by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez for not pressing harder for Zelaya's return.

"The same critics who say that the United States has not intervened enough in Honduras are the same people who say that we're always intervening, and the Yankees need to get out of Latin America," Obama said. "You can't have it both ways."

Harper agreed.

"If I were an American, I would be really fed up with this kind of hypocrisy," he said. "You know, the United States is accused of meddling except when it's accused of not meddling."

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
____________________________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release June 25, 2009

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AFTER MEETING WITH MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
TO DISCUSS IMMIGRATION

State Dining Room


3:17 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. We have just finished what I consider to be a very productive meeting on one of the most critical issues that I think this nation faces, and that is an immigration system that is broken and needs fixing.

We have members of Congress from both chambers, from parties, who have participated in the meeting and shared a range of ideas. I think the consensus is that despite our inability to get this passed over the last several years, the American people still want to see a solution in which we are tightening up our borders, or cracking down on employers who are using illegal workers in order to drive down wages -- and oftentimes mistreat those workers. And we need a effective way to recognize and legalize the status of undocumented workers who are here.

Now, this is -- there is not by any means consensus across the table. As you can see, we've got a pretty diverse spectrum of folks here. But what I'm encouraged by is that after all the overheated rhetoric and the occasional demagoguery on all sides around this issue, we've got a responsible set of leaders sitting around the table who want to actively get something done and not put it off until a year, two years, three years, five years from now, but to start working on this thing right now.

My administration is fully behind an effort to achieve comprehensive immigration reform. I have asked my Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Janet Napolitano, to lead up a group that is going to be working with a leadership group from both the House and the Senate to start systematically working through these issues from the congressional leaders and those with the relevant jurisdiction. What we've heard is through a process of regular order, they would like to work through these issues both in the House and in the Senate.

In the meantime, administratively there are a couple of things that our administration has already begun to do. The FBI has cleared much of the backlog of immigration background checks that was really holding up the legal immigration process. DHS is already in the process of cracking down on unscrupulous employers, and, in collaboration with the Department of Labor, working to protect those workers from exploitation.

The Department of Homeland Security has also been making good progress in speeding up the processing of citizenship petitions, which has been far too slow for far too long -- and that, by the way, is an area of great consensus, cuts across Democratic and Republican parties, the notion that we've got to make our legal system of immigration much more efficient and effective and customer-friendly than it currently is.

Today I'm pleased to announce a new collaboration between my Chief Information Officer, my Chief Performance Officer, my Chief Technologies Officer and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Office to make the agency much more efficient, much more transparent, much more user-friendly than it has been in the past.

In the next 90 days, USCIS will launch a vastly improved Web site that will, for the first time ever, allow applicants to get updates on their status of their applications via e-mail and text message and online. And anybody who's dealt with families who are trying to deal with -- navigate the immigration system, this is going to save them huge amounts of time standing in line, waiting around, making phone calls, being put on hold. It's an example of some things that we can do administratively even as we're working through difficult issues surrounding comprehensive immigration.

And the idea is very simple here: We're going to leverage cutting-edge technology to reduce the unnecessary paperwork, backlogs, and the lack of transparency that's caused so many people so much heartache.

Now, we all know that comprehensive immigration reform is difficult. We know it's a sensitive and politically volatile issue. One of the things that was said around the table is the American people still don't have enough confidence that Congress and any administration is going to get serious about border security, and so they're concerned that any immigration reform simply will be a short-term legalization of undocumented workers with no long-term solution with respect to future flows of illegal immigration.

What's also been acknowledged is that the 12 million or so undocumented workers are here -- who are not paying taxes in the ways that we'd like them to be paying taxes, who are living in the shadows, that that is a group that we have to deal with in a practical, common-sense way. And I think the American people are ready for us to do so. But it's going to require some heavy lifting, it's going to require a victory of practicality and common sense and good policymaking over short-term politics. That's what I'm committed to doing as President.

I want to especially commend John McCain, who's with me today, because along with folks like Lindsey Graham, he has already paid a significant political cost for doing the right thing. I stand with him, I stand with Nydia Velázquez and others who have taken leadership on this issue. I am confident that if we enter into this with the notion that this is a nation of laws that have to be observed and this is a nation of immigrants, then we're going to create a stronger nation for our children and our grandchildren.

So thank you all for participating. I'm looking forward to us getting busy and getting to work. All right? Thank you.

Oh, and by the way, I hope everybody has got their Hawaiian shirts -- (laughter) -- and their mumus for our luau tonight.

END
3:24 P.M. EDT

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Working-Together-for-Immigration-Reform/

We can start by not doing business with those hiring illegal immigrants!

Thanks Winx, was going to post but you covered it.

I'll believe that last one when I see it.

It's all about money, and money is what bought us the problem-- no money for enforcement and money into the pockets of those who have no incentive to keep illegals out of the workforce for reasons we all know.

-Kerry O.

There is a close similarity to Bush and BHO here. They both are in the pockets of the Corporations. Pretty transparent.

So why aren't Conservatives astroturfing "The Base" and business interests to alleviate this 'pretty transparent' wrong? Where's the town hall meetings with people running around with AR-15s demonstrating against business interests who are lining their pockets by flouting the law. Who exploit one group of people to instill fear in another who comprise a workforce that's already said to have the highest productivity rating on the planet?

Why not use the same fire-in-the-belly evangelizing against them that is being used to derail health care reform?

Could it just be that those 'pockets' are home to more than just the 'Usual Suspects'?


-Kerry O.

I've been active for years against any type of amnesty.

The last one proved to be a disaster. It added millions to the welfare roles, free medical(Medicaid), food stamps and more congestion to inner cities.

Now, more than ever, Americans and Legal Immigrant workers need protection from Amnesty.

they are going at it backwards

when you're in a sinking ship FIRST you stop the flooding. THEN you start bailing the water out.

First seal the border. The cartels own the border, no matter what he government say. The cartels are infiltrating their people into the Border Patrol and even the army. Last week a soldier at Fort Bliss in El Paso was indicted for being a cartel hit man and for killing an informant. So far this year 14 Border Patrol Officers have been arrested. 21 were arrested last year.

And now the quallifications and background checks have been relaxed in order to hire more agents



A rising number of U.S. border enforcement officers are being arrested on corruption charges as Mexican drug cartels look to bribes as a way to get around tougher enforcement, border officials say.

... the trend is alarming, [James Tomsheck, assistant commissioner for internal affairs at CBP] says. "We're deeply concerned. The numbers are disturbing."

Another troubling trend: Mexican syndicates are trying to plant their own people in the agency. Investigators have arrested at least four agents since 2007 who they believe were sent by drug cartels to infiltrate the CBP, Tomsheck says.

The Homeland Security Department's Office of Inspector General, which also investigates border agents, has also reported an increase in border corruption cases.
-USA Today



Then, after the border is secure, worry about the ones already here.

Securing the border is a great idea.
However that would create a stability.
BHO, Calderon, Brown and others who would gain from NAU do not want that to happen.

Nice dodge. I think everyone reading this knows the issue *I'm* talking about is getting medieval on the _corporations_ and _business interests_ who knowingly hire illegals because it benefits them to do so.

But really, don't we already know why the corporations aren't being sanctioned with a heavy hand? Why people like Rush Limbaugh aren't blasting this at 96 dB? And why many conservatives only pay this aspect of the problem lip service?

It's because the they're joined at the hip with the corporations and business interests who are doing this.

-Kerry O.

Who the hell do you think stopped Bush/McCain/Kennedy, and their immigration reform? It sure as hell wasn't the democrats..

Funny, in 1999 when Clinton was president, 400 employers got the book thrown at them for hiring illegals. In 2004 when Bush was president?

None.

I'm not sure what you think got stoppped, since this issue is almost 100% window dressing for both parties. A lot gets said. Nothing gets done. The fix is in.

But look up Paul Krugman's stance on the issue. He's about as liberal as they come and he knows that hiring illegals hurts the middle class worker and has said so.

As do the labor unions, who vote heavily Democratic.

BTW, I'm registered as an Independent. Always have been, probably always will be.


-Kerry O.

Amnesty will cost less than trying to ship back 17 million.....
Who will drive the buses???/

I say get them on the books.

That's a short term solution with long term consequences.

Go after the gangs, the Employers and the Politicians who are breaking the law by not enforcing it.

Take away the jobs, ICE knows where they all are, the Illegal leaves.

Actually, many have already left because of our high unemployment rates. There's no work for them.

You're welcome, Boo.

Got another question.

How can you identify an Illegal who comes into this country with no papers, no way to be identified?

Take their word for who they say they are? Go by the name on the stolen SSN? Have another illegal vouch for them?

To really qualify, they would have to return to their homeland, get their real ID and Illegally reenter

yah I read that the money being sent back to Mexico has dropped by 40%

and they are having a crisis in the villages in Mexico just because the money flowing in from America has dried up

hahahahaha I love that "content oriented advertising"