The Bush administration's guest worker plan has actually helped fuel illegal immigration because some believed President Bush is offering amnesty, according to a watchdog group's analysis of a government poll of immigrants detained by the Border Patrol.
The survey, some of the results of which were obtained, analyzed and released Tuesday by Judicial Watch, found that 63 percent of more than 800 immigrants arrested along the nation's southern border said they had heard from the Mexican government or media that Bush was offering amnesty. Forty-five percent said they attempted to cross the border based on those beliefs. Eighty percent said they wanted to apply for amnesty.
Bush boosted illegal alien entry into the United States by proposing his temporary worker program.
(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch, the public interest group that fights government corruption, today released the results of a previously undisclosed Border Patrol survey of apprehended illegal immigrants demonstrating that President Bush’s “temporary worker proposal,” was broadly interpreted as an illegal immigration amnesty program by illegal immigrants from Mexico, and led to a spike in illegal immigration crossings. Judicial Watch also uncovered through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) a Border Patrol document entitled, “White House Approved Talking Points,” directing Border Patrol agents to withhold information on the impact of the Bush amnesty proposal on illegal crossings.
Judicial Watch presented the documents and a report, U.S. Border Patrol Survey Analysis, to House Immigration Reform Chairman Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) at a joint press conference. Among the conclusions of Judicial Watch’s report are:
- President Bush’s proposal lured greater numbers of illegal immigrants to violate the law. Approximately 45% of respondents crossed illegally based upon rumors of a Bush amnesty program.
- Approximately 63% of the illegal aliens surveyed received Mexican government or media information supporting the notion of a Bush administration amnesty program.
- When asked if they would seek amnesty if offered, 80% of apprehended illegal immigrants answered, “yes.”
The “talking points memo” uncovered by Judicial Watch instructs Border Patrol agents to withhold information about the negative impact of the president’s proposal. “Do not talk about amnesty, increase in apprehensions, or give comparisons of past immigration reform proposals…Do not provide statistics on apprehension spikes or past amnesty data,” Border Patrol agents were told.
The Bush Administration does not want the truth getting in the way of the lies they tell.
You can read Judicial Watch's report Border Patrol Survey Analysis (PDF) and a supporting document (PDF).
"This is a bombshell," Tancredo said. "The White House and DHS leadership must immediately address the survey and the way the information request was handled so that the American people know that their government isn't playing politics with national security data.
"I have said all along that the president's immigration plan is amnesty, regardless of what the president calls it. We now have proof that illegal aliens understand that it's amnesty as well, and that it is an enticement to cross the border."
See my previous post "Thinking About Bush's Less Than Half-Baked Worker Permit Proposal".
By Randall Parker at 2005 June 30 01:51 PM Immigration Politics | TrackBackI am not surprised to learn about this, and will not be surprised when the mainstream media ignore it. They loathe President Bush, except where his loony drive for stealth amnesty contributes to their own multi-culti agenda.
Posted by: Rick Darby on June 30, 2005 02:14 PMThis is proof of deliberate dishonesty in the promotion of the amnesty proposal. When lies and suppression of truth have to be resorted to, this tells us that no rational arguments can be brought in, on the side of such a proposal. Worse, the people in charge of this must know that there is no sensible argument to be made for a policy which is guaranteed to increase the problem that it is dishonestly said to solve or ameliorate. Ulterior motives are likely where the outward ones are known to be false and counterproductive of their stated objectives. The administration is locked in a pattern of appeasing the left and the Mexicans on this issue, and they would rather lie, and in a brazen way, than admit that they don't dare to tell off those whom they've been disgracefully and habitually appeasing. There is nothing to do but tell them that their people are second class, and burdensome, but the administration would rather use obvious lies and suppression of truth, than say this.
Posted by: John S Bolton on June 30, 2005 02:51 PMPresident George W. Bush isn't the only politician who favors amnesty for illegal immigrants.
Some politicians who oppose amnesty for illegal aliens favor guest worker programs.
Posted by: Proborders on July 1, 2005 07:47 AMGWB is not appeasing the left on this issue - he is providing cheap, compliant labor to businesses, his natural constituency. The left wants them here because they think they will be Democratic votes down the line somewhere (plus it's a nice warm multi-culti fuzzy). President Bush is not interested in the left.
Posted by: D Flinchum on July 2, 2005 01:01 PMBusinessmen are net taxpayers, most often, and labor which is on net public subsidy, is what they flee from concentrations of. What are all those office parks doing so far out in the suburbs, when there are increasing numbers of low paid third worlders within a mile or two of downtown? Why has new manufacturing investment gone so far out into the countryside, while being shut down inside the city limits, if superabundance of cheap labor is so beneficial to businessmen as a class? Wage rates have to be looked at in the context of the overall net public subsidies, class by class, if one is to determine the interest of businessmen regarding this or that type of immigration. Businessmen don't vote in any large numbers, compared to lower middle class workers of the more conservative sort, who are also the swing voters. Contributions get thrown both ways, and in such manner that, the more a politician threatens the interest of a business, the more he gets. We have a propaganda juggernaut on the left, which occupies the government schools, and the administration is led by those too weak minded to stand against it, rather than appease it. What is NCLB, a sop to some rich business leaders, or a pretense at honoring egalitarian leftist premisses?
Posted by: John S Bolton on July 2, 2005 02:21 PMA "concentration of labor," that is, a large supply depresses wages. This is why businesses support massive immigration. I lived for over 35 years in the VA suburbs outside of DC. Immigrants - legal and illegal - are all over the inner and outer suburbs, not just in DC. Manassas is being hit particularly hard, so much so that the school system can't even predict with any accuracy how many students to expect in class next September.
Businesses like cheap, compliant labor. True, honest small businessmen are hurt by being undercut by dishonest businessmen who hire off the books, etc. You hear about them from time to time in some of the immigration blogs. GWB is not appeasing the left - he's servicing his business constituency. GWB is no deep thinker but he isn't a fool. The left will never have any use for him. Big business has been very good to him, even before he ran for governor of Texas.
The left has its own reasons for wanting massive immigration. The elites on both the left and right have absolutely no interest in the US or its citizens.
Posted by: D Flinchum on July 3, 2005 08:09 AM