Juanson World

President Bush needs illegal immigrants, but to win elections, he needs to claim that he is going to strengthen border security. The irony is that increased militarization of the border is counter-productive, much in the same way that fumigation does nothing to stem the production of illegal drugs in the Andean region.

There was an article in the NYTimes today about Bush's seemingly contradictory signing of a $32 million bill to be spent on Border Patrol and his desire to implement a Temporary Worker Program. Under the program, workers can apply for a three year visa and reapply for another three years. Here's the red flag: the applicant must be sponsored by an employer who must prove that it was a "job that no American could be found to take."

How could you prove this? Are employers really going to invest any time or money to search for Americans if they already have illegal immigrants knocking on the door? Then comes the issue of after the six year period is over - I presume that most of the workers won't simply pack up their bags and purchase a one-way Taca to San Salvador.

But the most disturbing/amusing part of this article was Bush's verbatim quote (I assume he was not scripted):

"You see, we got people sneaking into our country to work," he said. "They want to provide for their families. Family values do not stop at the Rio Grande River. People are coming to put food on the table. But because there is no legal way for them to do so, through a temporary-worker program, they're putting pressure on our border."

He's a parody of himself. I thought he was the first president to understand Spanish...