California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger slammed Congress for going on recess without coming to an agreement on immigration reform. He also attacked the federal government in general for not dealing with the issue for over 20 years and allowing it to escalate to the out of control state it is in today.
Schwarzenegger also put the blame for the illegal alien protests that occurred last week squarely on President Bush -- as do I. The President's lack of action on this issue has been incompetent. The Governor went on to point out the ridiculously porous borders in this day and age of terrorism and said our lack of attention to securing the borders was staggering to him.
I couldn't agree more with Governor Schwarzenegger, however I do believe that he is for a guest worker program, and while he didn't directly mention that in his speech, that is where me and the Governor part ways. Without controlling our border and reducing illegal immigration all we will be doing with a guest worker program is increasing the amount of "temporary" legal immigrants in this country. We are then just expecting them to return home when their time is up. Meanwhile the illegal population would continue to grow.
All of the guest worker advocates proposals are so weak on improving the border that it would remain porous and open to exploitation by terrorists. In other words their idea of border control and enforcement is all window dressing and sweet talk just to get their guest worker agenda through. If any of the proposals are implemented we'll be in a worse position in terms of the numbers of illegal aliens in the future.
The guest worker programs all have a flaw, they assume that illegal aliens will come and volunteer their detailed information to the government or return to their country first to apply. I just don't see either happening.
If there's anything that illegal aliens have taught us it's how weak we are on controlling our borders.
LA Times
In some of the harshest terms he has used to date, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday said the federal government has left the nation's borders dangerously vulnerable while failing to come up with a sensible approach to immigration.
Schwarzenegger ... blamed the Bush administration and Congress for the massive street protests and widespread public unhappiness over federal immigration policy.
"I think that all of this comes down to one thing: The federal government has failed the people of America in a terrible way, in a disastrous way, when it comes to this immigration situation."
...
He chided federal policy-makers for letting the border problem "hang out there for 20 years and not do anything about it, when they knew this is a problem."
The governor voiced incredulity over what he described as porous borders that leave the U.S. exposed to terrorists.
...
"to have a border that is not secure is to me staggering."
He scolded Congress for leaving Washington last month for spring recess, after a proposed deal to revamp the nation's immigration laws collapsed.
"For them to go home for spring break and not really take care of it when they know this was boiling here in this country is also irresponsible," he said.
