Bush Admin Tamps Down Right-Wing Desire For Mass Deportation Of Undocumented Immigrants

[babylonsister]

I just find this whole idea repulsive. What a bunch of bigots this country is harboring.

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/09/14/mass-deportation-ii/


Bush Admin Tamps Down Right-Wing Desire For Mass Deportation Of Undocumented Immigrants

At her Senate confirmation hearing this week, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Julie Myers reported that it would cost $94 billion to deport all 12 million undocumented immigrants currently in the U.S. An ICE spokesperson later reported that this figure does not include any costs for apprehension of undocumented immigrants.

While there are no current legislative proposals that call for direct deportation of all undocumented immigrants, the notion of such a mass deportation has been circulating among members of Congress and the conservative press for several years. For example, Congressman Tom Tancredo told the Heritage Foundation in September 2006:

When people say to me, and they do all the time, I hear this constantly—people go up, and tell me, they go, “Hey listen, what are you going to do with all the people who are presently in the country illegally? There’s 15 to 20 million — you can’t deport them.” And then they go on. Right. And I say “Hold it! Why not?”

In response to the nascent arguments for mass deportation, Rajeev Goyle and I wrote a report for the Center for American Progress more than 2 years ago in which we estimated the cost for apprehending and deporting all undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. to be more than $200 billion, with ongoing costs of at least $3 billion per year.

Unlike the ICE figure, our estimate included the substantial costs of apprehension. We estimated that apprehension costs would be about 74% of the total costs of apprehension and deportation. Applying this ratio to the ICE figure, gives a total estimated cost of apprehension and deportation of $362 billion, more than 50% higher than the estimate we produced in 2005! To put these figures in context, the entire 2008 budget request for the Department of Homeland security is $46 billion.

While calculations of this sort are difficult to do, the bottom line remains that apprehension and deportation would be incredibly expensive, whether that total would be $94 billion, $200 billion, or $362 billion. And removing all illegal workers from the economy would also quite likely be disruptive to the U.S. labor market.

That ICE is spending resources estimating a figure that we already estimated two years ago indicates that there is continuing disagreement between the White House and conservative members of Congress on what to do about the 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. While the White House favors a path to U.S. citizenship, more conservative members of Congress and conservative think tanks like the Center for Immigration Studies and the Federation for American Immigration Reform are pushing for higher levels of enforcement and “voluntary” deportation.

– David A. Jaeger

[Captain Hilts]

1. A lot of Dems and Union people support this too. Yes, bigotry is involved, but economics also.

They're competing for jobs and strengthening downward pressure on wages.

That's why the Retail Merchants Assn. are among the biggest supporters of the legislation to make 'em legal.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Humans are not the enemy.

Corporations are. Instead of demonzing people we need to demand fair wage legislation for ALL and demand stiff penalties and strict enforcement.

Tyson Foods is who we shuold be battling, not the guy who works there.

[pampango]

7. I came across this email from Gilchrist of the Minuteman Project

You're right. It's one of those issues which draws support from DU and Freeperville (where I think Gilchrest belongs). Always makes me uneasy, but I keep chanting "different reason" and I start to feel better.

Anyway this email is in response to a comment from someone complaining about the Minutemen's hatred of Hispanics.

Jose,

Thank you for writing to me. You are quite correct about U.S. businesses engaging in the 21st century slave trade without regard to the consequences to the victims.

The Minuteman Project receives about a dozen complaints each day via email informing us of those who are deliberately breaking U.S. immigration laws so they can laugh all the way to the bank.

We actually provide some of this critical information to law enforcement in hopes that they will carry out their sworn duties and investigate and/or arrest these scoundrels.

The impoverished souls all around the world who are lured here to labor for dirt cheap/no benefit jobs are not the only victims. The American taxpayers, the shrinking U.S. middle class, and labor union workers are also victims.

As surprising as it might sound, we agree on many of the same issues.

The Minuteman Project is not anti immigration. We are for an orderly cue of LEGAL immigrants with specific work skills needed to help our nation, as a whole, flourish, and whose integrity and character are of a caliber necessary to preserve our nation as a civilized society. To fulfill these goals the U.S. enacted immigration laws long ago.

While the unscrupulous segment of American businesses are certainly to blame for the current lawlessness in the U.S., Mexico and other countries are equally to blame. The corruption and the political, social, and economic oppression of these third world countries against their own people is despicable and creates an exodus of their unwanted populations into the U.S. There are six and one-half billion people in the world. The U.S. cannot provide and care for them all.
The Minuteman Project supports a peaceful, bloodless revolution by the people of these nations so that they, too, can create a dream in their countries at least equal to the American dream in the United States.

It can be done. All that is necessary is the willingness to accept the challenge.

Sincerely Yours,

Jim Gilchrist
Founder and President - The Minuteman Project.

------------------------
I think DU should sue Gilchrist. He seems to have stolen a lot of his material from DU posts. :think:

[ret5hd]

2. You sure don't have to wander very far to find bigotry:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1807849

[babylonsister]

6. Holy shit. I have no words. nt

[Quantess]

8. I believe that's satire.

[babylonsister]

9. Why do you believe that? He/she sounds dead serious to me. nt

[DBoon]

4. Someone made a serious argument that this WAS feasible

The argument was based on the fact that the Germans did the same thing during WWII, proving that mass forced population transfer was indeed logistically possible.

Yes, I found this argument absolutely chilling.

I wish I had a link or reference - I remember it was a "reputable" think tank type of person, not someone from a fringe group, but someone who represented a sizable chunk of republican sentiment

[babylonsister]

5. Oh my gosh, that is chilling. That's what someone has learned from

history? Ugh.:scared:

[DBoon]

10. Here is one link

Warning! World Net Daily wingnut site.

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50198

I was sure it was a more prestigious source thank this particular fruitcake. I will keep looking