McCain: Immigration Is About Security

(AP)  Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Monday that securing the nation's borders is the top goal of an immigration reform measure proposed in Congress that critics have characterized as a form of amnesty for illegal immigrants.

"We have 12 million people. We don't know where they are or what they're doing," McCain said to reporters after speaking to members of the Oklahoma House. "We've got to secure our borders."

McCain, a U.S. senator from Arizona, criticized opponents of the reform package including GOP presidential rival Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who McCain said had flip-flopped on the issue.

"If you oppose this, then what is your proposal? Because the status quo is not acceptable," McCain said. "He criticized our proposal, his criticism which he called pro-amnesty.

"I don't want to be too critical because maybe in a couple of weeks from now he will change his position again, as he's changed from his previous position which was in support of ours," McCain said.

McCain is a co-sponsor of the measure that would meld stronger border security with a guest-worker program and an eventual path to citizenship for many of the 12 million immigrants in the country illegally. Romney has said he opposes the measure because it would allow virtually every illegal immigrant to remain indefinitely.

McCain said he met with Oklahoma lawmakers who supported sweeping state immigration legislation that Gov. Brad Henry signed into law on May 8. Among other things, the measure would deny most public benefits to illegal aliens, target employers who hire illegal aliens and provide protections to citizens and legal immigrants who lose their jobs to illegal immigrants.

"They passed that legislation because they were frustrated, understandably. The federal government did not carry out its responsibilities," McCain said.

He said border control is a federal responsibility. "That means fences, that means walls," McCain said.

On the issue of high fuel prices, McCain said there is little the nation can do to lower prices immediately.

"The only option you can think about is to place a ceiling on gas prices," McCain said. But price ceilings have not worked in the past, he said.

In the long term, increased exploration for domestic energy reserves, including natural gas, will bring energy prices down. "A big reservoir of it is in the state of Oklahoma," he said.

He said the nation also needs to focus on "ethanol of all kinds," including energy extracted from corn, switchgrass and sugar cane.

"Ethanol plants are springing up all over the Midwest," he said.

Conservation will also help bring energy prices down as well as streamlining the process for building nuclear plants, McCain said.

In his speech to the House, McCain promised to hold Cabinet chiefs accountable for ensuring the integrity of their agencies and proposed to withhold money from government programs that don't meet performance expectations.

McCain said his administration would frequently review ethical standards, adhere to "constant, timely and widely available" public disclosure, and give every agency's inspector general direct access to department heads and Cabinet secretaries.

"I'll hold those senior officeholders directly responsible for taking the necessary corrective measures to ensure the integrity of the departments they lead," McCain said.

He also said every agency will be required to issue yearly public progress reports, and programs that do not meet performance goals would not be funded.

"If they're not giving Americans good value for their tax dollars, they're going to have to change or they're going out of business," McCain says.

Following a fundraiser in Tulsa earlier Monday, McCain said setting a timetable for an early U.S. pullout from Iraq would result in genocide and chaos.

"We've made many mistakes in this war, and we are paying a heavy sacrifice for it," he said. "But I am convinced that the American people should be told that the consequences of failure are chaos, genocide and they'll follow us home."

McCain said people are condemning the new strategy in Iraq before the troop surge is fully implemented, noting that the United States does not even have all five troop brigades in place.

"(The Iraqi lawmakers) realize that if we do what the Democrats want and set a date for withdrawal, that's a date for surrender, and they will all be killed probably by al-Qaeda, who will take over that country," McCain said.

[stokeybob]

They sure are pretending to care and be doing something about the illegal invasion now that they are trying to carny sell us on another bill.

Remember how it was a few months or years back?

It doesn't seem to make any difference what is in the bill, the problem seems to be what or who is in our government!

The thing that scares me about any sort of immigration law reform is that every few years they re-invent the same laws. Each time they work in amnesty and gravy parts for the illegal aliens. They are always quick to hand out the amnesty and gravy parts but they never do get around to the enforcement parts of the laws.

Do we really need a shiny new set of laws when we have never given the old comprehensive laws a test drive?


http://www.vdare.com/rubenstein/051101_nd.htm

Notices of intent to fine employers:

1997: 865
1999: 417
2000: 178
2001: 100
2003: 162
2004: 3


Worksite arrests of illegal alien workers:

1997: 17,554
1999: 2,849
2000: 953
2001: 735
2003: 445
2004: 159

[reel-crazy]

Pensacola8:

WOW. I have to ask these questions after your statement that McCain is a wise man.

First, I need to ask if you are an ILLEGAL immigrant yourself? Second, if not, are you living in some fantasyland after 12 million ILLEGALLY, LAWBREAKING, TRESPASSERS makes you tell us we have a border crossing problem? Third, do you actually think anything but a small percentage of these ILLEGALS are actually going to be able to cough up $5,000? All I can say is WOW...

[starshine_52]

My biggest concern is that illegal immigrants do not have to register for the draft and live here in a land where our young men die for our country. They receive the benefits of a free country without the tragedy of losing a loved one, ever, to war. Living in America is a privledge earned by many brave solders --

[pensacola8-2009]

Senator John McCain is wise. He knows that most of the aliens did get here legally, but overstayed their visit or lost their I-94 form that was given to them, when they crossed. He tempored much of the hardliner rhetoric with practical and reasonal language. He knows that most of the film clips seen on TV displaying border violations, are not accurate representations of the illegal alien problem. It is true, that we have an illegal border crossing problem, but not to the extent we see on TV. Some of those video clips are old and many of those locations have been re-modeled. The propaganda on this issue is out of control. Amnesty is the right thing to do. A $5,000 fine is over four times higher than a Lawful Permanent Resident would pay to do the process legally without amnesty. McCain will face critics on both sides of the aisle for his views, but his views are more aligned with the majority, than his critics.

[starleo146]

Rep. Boehner said he does not intend to vote for this immigration bill he says we are a nation of laws and we need to obey the laws we have. thank you RepBoehner.

[frankinaz]

Senator McCain,
You are from Arizona, and you, along with your fellow Congress members who represent the border states with Mexico, should know how illegal immigration is overrunning the Southwest and is overwhelming local services in those states. Your fellow Congress members should also realize how much of our tax dollars are wasted on illegal immigrants. Since illegal immigration is a Federal issue, then end it at the Federal level!
Stop giving illegal immigrants the means to enter and remain in this country: If it means enforcing and amending existing laws, along with passing new and harsh measures to stop rewarding these people and their potential employers, so be it!

[starleo146]

Has anyone seen that jet for 85million dollars that homeland security has flying congressmen around at our expense and yes republicans were suppose to fly but backed out the last minute which left democrats flying all over the carrabean one guy from mississippi brought his wife and some friends all at a cost to us this ms. trip cost 130000.00 and you wonder why I do not trust any of the crooks up there in Wash.D.C. I'm sure republicans used this plane long before the democrarts got control and probably set them up to have a scandal on them seeing they cancelled the last minute you are not suppose to travel just one party every trip should have a republican and a democrat When the speaker went to syria she had republicans with her on that trip didn't hear about that.The point is well 85 million dollars for Homeland security no wonder Louisiana hasn't received any money from Homeland Security.

[peter776-2009]

First things first. If we can send a man to the moon we can control our borders and re-assert control over immigration. It is false to state that nothing can be done about the 12-25 million illegal aliens already in this country short of granting them amnesty (and thereby rewarding them for breaking our laws). In the 1950s Eisenhower deported 1.2 million illegal aliens. Another 3-4 million illegal aliens then left on their own. The same can happen today. We do not need to accept the status quo of our country being overrun by common criminals, crowding our schools and public places and bringing increased crime with them. Just a few things need to be done to turn this whole thing around: (1) seal the entire border with Mexico as soon as possible; (2) create a tamperproof national ID; (3)amend the Consitution so drop babies are not citizens; (4)criminalize employment of illegal aliens; (5)deny education, non-emergency health care and other benefits to all illegal aliens; (6)empower local law enforcement to apprehend illegal aliens in behalf of the federal government; (7) legislatively facilitate the return of illegal aliens and their assets to their own countries (i.e., provide the right kind of "amnesty"). These steps must be taken before there is any talk about letting anyone who has not obeyed out current immigration laws into this country on a permanent basis.

[randalds]

They are the product of generations of poverty and very few will make the leap to a middle-class lifestyle. Generational poverty is nearly impossible to overcome, and it is what they leave behind in Mexico and it is what they bring to our country when they arrive.

They do not learn English and they do not assimilate. In two generations, we will look like Larado and they will have decimated all social services and we will have nothing.

Posted by barbaraf4 at 10:04 AM : May 22, 2007

BULL!! Generational poverty is exactly what most of our immigrant forefathers came here to overcome and they did exactly that! The Hispanics will too. And this idea that they don't or won't learn English or assimilate into American society is the exact same thing that has been said about every wave of immigrants that ever came here, from the Poles and Germans to the Italians and the Russians, yet everyone of this assimilated and were fluent in English by the 3rd generation and the Hispanics will be too! Every time there has been a wave of immigrants into America there have been these lies and complaints about them and every time they were proven wrong! This country would be nothing without immigration and no don't give me this "Oh but they were legal" garbage, because that just side steps the idea of assimilation.

[barbaraf4]

When I look toward the U.S. border with Canada I don't see millions of Canadians entering the United States illegally and there is no talk of building any walls along the U.S. Canadian border. Canadians respect U.S. territory and the U.S. respects Canada's territory in return....... My anger has nothing to do with me not being compassionate or caring for the Mexican plight, but everything to do with the illegal-immigrant-line-jumping-mindset!
Posted by tbweb at 04:46 AM : May 22, 2007

Well said. It should be added that Canadians are educated people - at least to the level of most Americans. For the most part, illegal aliens are not educated. They are the product of generations of poverty and very few will make the leap to a middle-class lifestyle. Generational poverty is nearly impossible to overcome, and it is what they leave behind in Mexico and it is what they bring to our country when they arrive.

They do not learn English and they do not assimilate. In two generations, we will look like Larado and they will have decimated all social services and we will have nothing.