Although a vast majority of Americans dissaprove of the new immigration bill currently in the Senate, President Bush continues to fight for its approval. Recently he spoke out, questioning the patriotism of those who oppose the bill, going so far as to say the critics of the bill are spreading misinformation. In a recent interview with McClatchy Newspapers President Bush defended the immigration bill once more.

Firing back at conservative critics, President Bush defended his plan to overhaul immigration laws Tuesday and accused its opponents of “trying to rile up people’s emotions” with misinformation.

“I’m deeply concerned about America losing its soul. Immigration has been the lifeblood of a lot of our country’s history,” the president said during an interview on Air Force One. “I am worried that a backlash to newcomers would cause our country to lose its great capacity to assimilate newcomers.”
“I’m sure you’ve heard some of the talk out there about people defining the bill. It’s clear they hadn’t read the bill. They’re speculating about what the bill says, and they’re trying to rile up people’s emotions,” he told an audience at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, near Brunswick. “If you want to kill the bill, if you don’t want to do what’s right for America, you can pick one little aspect out of it, you can use it to frighten people. Or you can show leadership and solve this problem once and for all.”

Bush acknowledged that the proposed overhaul faces a difficult time in Congress, where it’s under attack from both ends of the political spectrum.

Conservative critics contend that it amounts to an amnesty program because illegal immigrants would be allowed to stay in the country after paying $1,000 fines. Some liberals complain that plans for a new temporary worker program are overly restrictive and would create a permanent underclass of foreign workers.

Bush hopes to push it through Congress with help from a bipartisan group of lawmakers that includes Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., a liberal stalwart, and Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., a staunch conservative. The president said he had no hesitations about working with Kennedy despite their sharp differences over Iraq and other issues.

“The reason why is, he can get the job done,” Bush said aboard Air Force One.

Sitting in his spacious office on the presidential aircraft, Bush traced his commitment to immigration to his time in Texas.

“When you grow up in Texas like I did, you recognize the decency and humanity of Hispanics. And the truth of the matter is, a lot of this immigration debate is driven as a result of Latinos being in our country,” he said. “I have seen firsthand the beautiful stories of people being able to take advantage of opportunity and make solid contributions to our society.”

He said Americans had nothing to fear from large-scale immigration from Latin America.

“There is an element of our society that is worried about two Americas,” he said. “Our ability to welcome newcomers and the system’s capacity to assimilate them has been one of the great powerful traditions of America. It works, and it will work this time. People shouldn’t fear our capacity to uphold our motto: E Pluribus Unum.”

President Bush fails to realize there already is “two Americas”. One America is made up of hard working individuals who follow the laws of the land, the other America is made up of criminals who lack any respect for this country or its people. This immigration bill is catering to the second America, with the belief that by waving a magic wand and forgiving people of their crimes, they will instantaniously become law abiding citizens.

Although that may be true, it is hardly the issue. The issue many have with this immigration bill, both conservatives and liberals, is the lack of enforcement. Twenty years ago President Reagan offered amnesty to 3 million illegals with promises from Ted Kennedy the problem would be solved. Here we are again in the same position with Ted Kennedy making the same promise in regards to the 12 million illegals currently residing in our country.

The 760 miles of fence which was authorized by Congress last year to secure our borders and help limit the flow of illegals into the country has yet to be built. Local law enforcement agencies in most cases are prohibited from alerting the federal government when they arrest a person in the country illegally.

Critics of the immigration bill are smart enough to see our government intends on repeating past mistakes. We are aware that without new provisions for enforcement of existing laws, the immigration debate will be back in 20 years.

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Congress, Immigration, Politics