A year ago, illegal immigration stood out as the issue many of us feared would dominate the presidential campaign of 2008. First, there was Congress, where fiery speeches and anti-immigrant rhetoric soared in a fierce debate on whether illegal immigrants should be allowed access to public housing. Democrats pulled out all the stops to kill this Republican motion. While the GOP plan was defeated, the back-and-forth voting was so controversial that the chamber had the atmosphere of a near riot. [Congressional Record]

We had presidential candidates, early on, who blasted illegals [YouTube] and, as a result, the climate for immigrants, legal or not, became a fearsome one.

crossposted at NoSlaves.com blog

Mitt Romney wants to send your job to China and if he can't do that, he wants to bring in cheaper foreign labor to displace you anyway.

While Mitt Romney trudges across Iowa blasting his opponents on illegal immigration, look at how willing he is to labor arbitrage other Americans and increase guest worker Visas! While wages and costs are some of the legitimate concerns on illegal immigration, magically, middle class professionals are perfectly acceptable for displacement!

In a TechCrunch interview Romney declared:

Romney: I like H-1B visas. I like the idea of the best and brightest in the world coming here. I’d rather have them come here permanently rather than come and go, but I believe our visa program is designed to help us solve gaps in our employment pool.

Romney is brazenly ignoring the overwhelming evidence that there is no worker shortage and in fact a glut of American best and the brightest are having their careers decimated by global labor arbitrage.

crossposted at the NoSlaves.com blog

With friends like these who needs enemies? The IEEE-USA issued a statement supporting turning our University system into a glorified green card machine. They also have literally teamed up with a corporate lobbyist organization, the SIA, to issue their policy position.

During the Mid 1990s I was a student at Cal (that's a story in itself)and I met Ron, who was a pumped-up radical grad student researching History-Ethnic Studies.

I recently received a random email from Ron, and I thought y'all might find the subsequent correspondence amusing. The topics cover American History, NAFTA, immigration, and of course, politics. I can't wait to hear what y'all think of this...

A COUNTRY LOST
Catzoned

The United States of America died in 2007 at the age of 231. After declaring it’s freedom from English rule in 1776 the citizenry fought hard to claim its independent rule. It elected a president instead of a king and was guided by a Constitution of Laws written so the United States would have elected leaders instead of people who claimed rule by birthright alone.

There is only one way to repudiate reckless and illegal warmongering by this administration. That is to impeach. It is also, I think, the only way to prevent this administration from attacking Iran.

This is a rush transcript of "Special Report With Brit Hume" from June 28, 2007.

BRIT HUME, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Next on SPECIAL REPORT, that immigration bill goes down in a stampede of no votes, in which even some of the bill's previous backers voted no. It is now dead. ,,,
... All that right here, right now. Welcome to Washington. I'm Brit Hume. Not only did the Senate immigration bill go down today, it was swamped. It sank so deep, it's not likely to come back in this Congress or in this presidency. Congressional correspondent Major Garrett reports it's all over, including the shouting.

(continued)

Immigration Bill Defeated: not a defeat for Democrats but A victory for average Americans and a Defeat for Bush!

In a stunning setback for President Bush and other advocates of a proposed immigration law overhaul, the Senate voted today to block a final vote on the legislation, almost certainly dooming any further effort at reform in Congress this year.

Time Running Out for Bush on Immigration

Jun 27, 1:17 PM EDT

By BEN FELLER

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush, short on political capital and time, is devoting much of what's left of his term in office to getting an immigration deal.

Starting with an April 9 speech in Arizona, in which he talked tough about border security and prodded Congress to get moving, Bush has staged a dozen immigration events. That's not counting his four radio addresses on the topic in that time, or his phone calls to lawmakers, or his bold prediction that he'd see reporters at the bill-signing for a bill that seemed dead. (continued)

(continued)

I have been mulling over several thoughts recently, none of which seem to individually offer a complete day’s work, and I ask the reader’s indulgence as I attempt to stitch some of these disconnected concepts into a larger, and hopefully more interesting, quilt.

Well, the immigration bill was in a coma. So the President visited Capitol Hill to rally GOP lawmakers to resurrect it. Result: The bill is no longer in coma. Now it’s “flatlining.” Its little legislative heart monitor is going “EEEEEEEE” and the breathing bag has collapsed. (continued)

Cross-posted to DailyKos.

Recently, I was flipping through my copy of The American Century, by Harold Evans, and I found a story about late 19th century Romanian immigrants. This story turned my thoughts to the immigration bill that recently stalled in the United States Senate, and the impact it could have, if it ever passes, on what we stand for as nation – not only now, but, for generations in the future.

I was invited to cross post here, so on occasion I will. I normally post at mnblue.com, home of the Norm Coleman Weasel Meter.

---

Norm Coleman was given an inside page on today's Opinion section of the Sunday edition of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. As a Bush Loyalist he stuck to the approved talking points with a commentary piece entitled For safety's sake, take this gag off our police.

Cross-posted @ My Left Wing, BlueSunbelt and Progressive Historians

If a disinterested party were to seriously analyze modern U.S. immigration policy, (or the dubious lack thereof) close scrutiny of our virtually porous southern border with Mexico would no doubt spark a vexing dichotomy in the mind of the analyzer. I's been pretty much business-as-usual for decades, i.e., a perilous excursion for countless illegal aliens, crossing miles and miles of inhospitable land fit for neither man nor beast.