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Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 30, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: Secret to Immortality
Caroline B. Glick Silencing dissent in America
Oct. 29, 2009
Lini S. Kadaba: Do tactics avert flu or reduce humanity?
JWisdom.com We Must Revamp our Religious Vocabulary With Gavriel Aryeh Sanders ( 10 minutes)
Oct. 28, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Atheists in Bubbleland
JWisdom.com Why what we wear impacts who we are With Rabbis Mordechai Becher, Menachem Golberger and Aliza Bulow ( 10 minutes)
Oct. 27, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The United Nations Is Outraged Again, Or: Department of Mideast Static
JWisdom.com The Science of Love With Rabbi Jonathan Rietti ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 26, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Damaging disclosures with a twist
JWisdom.com Wisdom and Wonks With Rabbi Eytan Feiner ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 23, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: Are you ready for the ultimate pleasure?
JWisdom.com Watermark and oneness with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 4 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick Stop using limited powers in a way that expands our enemies' advantages over us
Oct. 22, 2009
Steven Emerson: Terror Cases Share Desire to Kill Americans
JWisdom.com No More More Family Fights --- Really? By Sarah Chana Radcliffe ( 5 minutes)
Oct. 21, 2009
Tonya Alanez: Holocaust denier sues survivor, calling Auschwitz memoir 'vicious lies'
JWisdom.com Meditating Jewishly: A Panacea for Success by Sarah Yoheved Rigler ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 20, 2009
Dennis Prager: Obama and Dalai Lama: Why Israel Worries about U.S. President
JWisdom.com Abraham was not religious By Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer ( 6 minutes)
Oct. 19, 2009
JWisdom.comWhy Good People Do Bad Things By Rabbi Eytan Feiner ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 16, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Perfect Number
JWisdom.com Hearing Voices By Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick How Turkey was lost
Oct. 15, 2009
Jeff Jacoby: Peace vs. the 'peace process'
JWisdom.com: Former MTV producer and stand-up comedian Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff: Taming a Control Freak (A VERY fast 15 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Nov. 30, 2005 / 28 Mar-Cheshvan, 5766

Bush not serious about immigration

By Tucker Carlson


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | President Bush announced a new immigration program on Monday, and was immediately accused of playing politics. The president, his opponents said, isn't more concerned about immigration reform than he used to be. He's just weaker politically. And there's no quicker way to win back the affection of the disaffected Right than to snarl about illegal aliens.


For once, the spin is right: Bush isn't serious about immigration; today's announcement was purely political. How do we know this? Let me count the ways:


For one thing, he waited an awfully long time to make the announcement. Bush has been president for five years. September 11th took place more than four years ago. And on Monday, November 28, 2005, he decides it's time to overhaul border security? Why did it take so long to notice the system was broken?


All the signs were there. The White House's own press release details them. As of now, the statement proclaims, the administration will no longer immediately release illegal aliens caught sneaking over the border. Which is to say, up until now, it has done just that. In the words of the White House: "Because detention facilities lack bed space, most non-Mexican illegal immigrants apprehended are released and directed to return for a court appearance. However, 75 percent fail to show. Last year, only 30,000 of the 160,000 non-Mexicans caught coming across our Southwest border were sent home."


In other words, 130,000 non-Mexican illegal immigrants — most from Central and South America, but also some from the Middle East and Pakistan — were allowed to flee from justice and circulate among the American population. How long has the Bush administration been aware of this? Why wasn't something done earlier?


The answer, of course, is that much of the administration's business support comes from companies that benefit from illegal labor. This wings of the Republican Party tends to favor open borders. Under pressure not to enforce immigration laws, the White House hasn't.


And it still won't, at least not very seriously. The last paragraphs of the president's new plan outline what he calls a temporary worker program. "People in this debate must recognize that we will not be able to effectively enforce our immigration laws until we create a temporary worker program," Bush said today. The White House is quick to point out that such a program is not at all the same as amnesty. Perhaps not, but it's pretty close. Illegal aliens living in this country would be allowed to work legally for a set period of time, "and then be required to return home."


That last clause is enough to make you laugh out loud. "And then be required to return home"? Just as 130,000 apprehended illegals were required to go to court? But don't? It's a joke.


A White House serious about ending illegal immigration wouldn't issue press releases like this. Instead it would do three things:


1) Build a fence across the length of the US-Mexican border. Such a fence would be ugly and expensive (though no more expensive than the annual cost of illegal immigration to the State of California's school system.) But it would work. Not even its opponents deny this.


2) Fine employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens. This is an obvious solution, a simple way to dry up demand for illegal immigration. But the business lobby opposes it, so the Bush administration resists it. Shameful.


3) Pressure the government of Mexico, with trade barriers if necessary, to help combat illegal immigration. As it stands, Mexico actively encourages illegal immigration to the US, in some cases even paying the legal fees of illegals who wind up in legal trouble here. When it comes to immigration, Mexico is our enemy, not our ally. We should force that government to switch sides.


When Bush adopts these positions, you'll know he takes border security seriously. Until then, don't believe a word.


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JWR contributor Tucker Carlson is a journalist, college instructor, public speaker. He hosts MSNBC's "The Situation with Tucker Carlson" each weeknight at 11 p.m. Comment by clicking here.


© 2005 MSNBC

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