Tuesday, February 01, 2005

Immigration Debate Looming

An interesting piece from the Claremont Institute:

Over at the Sac Union Blog a small debate seems to be arising over immigration. Kenneth E. Grubbs, Jr., Editor of the Sacramento Union takes on California talk radio host and fellow Sac Union blogger Mark Williams. Such debates are going to grow exponentially in the coming months.

See today's excellent SD Tribune article on the President's immigration plan. As it says:

Forces on both sides of the issue are trying to gauge whether Bush's call for a massive guest-worker program is mostly lip service designed to win favor from business groups and Hispanic voters or if he intends to spend his political capital pushing the initiative.

Meanwhile, from the Washington Times:

The Bush administration's decision not to hire 2,000 new Border Patrol agents for fiscal year 2006 will seriously hamper efforts to control illegal immigration along the U.S.-Mexico border, said current and retired officials.

President Bush is expected to seek an increase of only about 200 agents for the new fiscal year, according to law-enforcement authorities and others, significantly short of the 2,000 per year authorized for each of the next five years in the recently passed intelligence overhaul bill.

The WSJ also weighs in on the issue—John Fund hedges his bets, but does play up Rush Limbaugh's recent warnings to the White House on the issue:

Immigration is certainly more complex than many border-control advocates would have you believe. But supporters of rational reform that would regularize the flow of immigrant labor should recognize that it must be accompanied by measures to address the legitimate concerns of Americans who worry the federal government has completely lost control of the borders. Many voters don't trust any plan coming out of Washington, whether it's by Mr. Bush or anyone else. It's that concern that is driving Rush Limbaugh and other supporters of the president to send up political warning flares.

The editorial also mentions Erin Anderson, who gave a talk for the Center for Local Government last year for our Brownbag Lunch series.

More of Local Liberty on Immigration here.


No comments:

Post a Comment