Monday, August 29, 2005

Illegal Alien Resolution Passed

At the GOP Convention, August 27, the resolution was passed with modifed clauses at the end, to wit:

"Therefore, we, the duly elected Delegates to the 2005 Utah Republican Party Convention hereby humbly request a Legislative Audit into the true cost to the Taxpayers of Utah of said presence of illegal aliens, including Education Costs, Medical Costs, Resident College Tuition Rates; Incarceration and Police Costs; Lowering of the General Wage Rate; Income Loss to Displaced Workers; Welfare Benefits and any, and all, other costs associated with this illegality.

Therefore, let it be resolved that we the Utah Republican Party requests that the Congress of the United States of America find reasonable and responsible solutions to these immigration issues.

We direct the Secretary of the Party to send a copy of this Resolution to all of the members of the Utah House and Senate, the Governor, and to our elected Republican Congressmen and Senators."

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

UFIRE Poll Results

UFIRE ANNOUNCES POLL RESULTS
Preliminary results of a UFIRE poll indicate that 70 to 80 per cent of RepublicanState Delegates are supportive of enforcing immigration laws and restricting taxpayer subsidized benefits to illegal immigrants in the State of Utah.

Volunteers working withUFIRE (Utahns for Immigration Reform and Enforcement) conducted a telephone pollover the period of a few weeks. "The results were remarkably similar throughout thestate," reported UFIRE Chairman, Mike Sizer. "

It appears that some of our nationalCongressmen are out of step with their constituents on this important issue."When delegates were asked about the controversial instate tuition for illegal aliens,they were 71.3% in favor of repealing that benefit.

A Utah law, allowing the tuitionbenefit, was passed a few years ago by the Utah legislature in anticipation of thepassage of Senator Hatch's so-called Dream Act. The benefit was placed into operationlast year - prior to any change in Federal law, which prohibited the practice.

The legislative Joint Education Committee recommended repeal of the provision in hearing this year.67.1% of Republican Delegates supported the idea of an audit to determine the costof illegal aliens to taxpayers of Utah. With 10.8 % undecided, many of those againstthe idea of an audit commented that it would be a waste of money to simply do a studybecause it was already known that the taxpayer cost for benefits to illegal aliens isenormous. They indicated that, instead of a cost analysis, measures should be takento reduce or stop unwarranted non-citizen benefits without a study.

A similar audit last year found that 95,000 illegal aliens had been issued Drivers'Licenses or ID cards. This audit was the impetus for a law creating Driver PrivilegeCards for illegal aliens, which was passed earlier this year.

The issuance of DriverPrivilege Cards received 30.1% support from GOP Delegates while 56.1 % were inopposition and 13.9 % were undecided. On the specific question of minimizing taxpayer funded benefits to illegal aliens,an overwhelming 76.5% responded YES, with 11.5 % and 12 % undecided Recognizing the predominant influence of the Party in Utah government and itsinfluence in legislation, and in consideration of the upcoming Republican Convention,one question was asked about of control by and for the "grass roots" of Party rulesprocedures. Results showed 83.2 % in favor of this principle, with 12.5% undecided.

UFIRE is supporting a resolution that will be presented to the upcoming RepublicanConvention calling for an audit of the the cost of illegal aliens to taxpayers and forminimizing taxpayer funded benefits to them.

An additional Resolution by NationalCommitteewoman Nancy Lord supporting delegate inputs to, and control of, Party rulesis also under consideration.To provide more information to delegates and others interested in the issue ofillegal immigrants in the State of Utah, UFIRE has sponsored a series of meetings withColorado Congressman Tom Tancredo. The final meeting will be held at Salt LakeCommunity College on Thursday, 25 August, at 7 PM.

Friday, August 05, 2005

Proposed Resolution to GOP Convention

RESOLUTION

Whereas, the Utah Republican Party "support(s) the "Rule of Law" and believe(s) in upholding the law of the land." (Platform Preamble)

Whereas, the Law of the Land, the United States Constitution declares: "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican form of Government, and shall protect each of them against invasion." (Article IV Section 4)

Whereas, there are laws in effect governing immigration into the United States and laws concerning the hiring of illegal aliens within this country; (INA: Section 274A "It is unlawful for a person or other entity to hire, or to recruit or refer for a fee, for employment in the United States an alien knowing the alien is an unauthorized alien.")

Whereas, it was shown in a Legislative Audit that at least 95,000 illegal aliens were issued Utah Drivers’ Licenses and Identification Cards and that many illegal aliens cast votes in recent elections; http://www.le.state.ut.us/audit/05_01ilr.pdf

Whereas, it is estimated there are between 65,000 (INS Feb 2003) and 200,000 illegal aliens currently residing within Utah State boundaries;

Whereas, each House of the Utah Legislature recently passed a Resolution opposing FTAA, which, if passed, would further encourage so-called "open" borders and further "immigration"; (HR 9, SR 1)

Therefore, we, the duly elected Delegates to the 2005 Utah Republican Party Convention hereby humbly request a Legislative Audit into the true cost to the Taxpayers of Utah of said presence of illegal aliens, including Education Costs, Medical Costs, Resident College Tuition Rates; Incarceration and Police Costs; Lowering of the General Wage Rate; Income Loss to Displaced Workers; Welfare Benefits and any, and all, other costs associated with this illegality.

Further, we call upon the Utah Legislature to pass laws to limit benefits provided to those illegally present within our borders, and provide penalties for both those who knowingly provide service to those in violation of immigration laws as well as those who receive services; and for the Governor to ensure that law enforcement vigorously aid in enforcing immigration law and for our Federal Representative to enact measures to Secure Our Borders and cause current Immigration laws and policies to be enforced.

Lastly, while recognizing the positive impact of legal immigrants to the United States, we encourage any, and all, of those people illegally residing in Utah to return to their country of origin and citizenship taking with them any lessons they have learned of neighborliness, freedom, respect for law, Free Enterprise and proper governmental principles and work to incorporate those principles into their respective countries, wishing them Godspeed in their journey, and welcome their legal return.

We direct the Secretary of the Party to send a copy of this Resolution to all of the members of the Utah House and Senate, the Governor, and to our elected Republican Congressmen and Senators.

Respectfully submitted and approved this 27th day of August 2005.

Tancredo "Mecca" Comments

Here's a transcript of Tancredo's comments on "Mecca" Better yet LISTEN to the actual interview to hear the thought process and hesitancy in the response as something just off the top of his head.

http://www.540wfla.com/timages/page/media/Tancredo_comments_071405.mp3


Transcript of Tancredo comments
By Rocky Mountain NewsJuly 18, 2005
Comments made by Rep. Tom Tancredo on Friday during an on-air interview on radio station WFLA in Orlando, Fla. Host Pat Campbell and the congressman were discussing the possibility of future terrorist attacks inside the United States.

Campbell: Worst case scenario, if they do have these nukes inside the borders and they were to use something like that — what would our response be?

Tancredo: What would be the response? You know, there are things that you could threaten to do before something like that happens and then you may have to do afterwards that are quite draconian.

Campbell: Such as...

Tancredo: Well, what if you said something like — if this happens in the United States, and we determine that it is the result of extremist, fundamentalist Muslims, um, you know, you could take out their holy sites . . .

Campbell: You're talking about bombing Mecca.

Tancredo: Yeah. What if you said — what if you said that we recognize that this is the ultimate threat to the United States — therefore this is the ultimate threat, this is the ultimate response.
I mean, I don't know, I'm just throwing out there some ideas because it seems to me . . . at that point in time you would be talking about taking the most draconian measures you could possibly imagine and because other than that all you could do is once again tighten up internally.

Cannon Spurns Debate Offer

Anti-illegal immigration group had hoped for Utahn-Coloradan match
By Deborah BulkeleyDeseret Morning News

Utahns will apparently have to wait for Congress to convene next month to hear a spirited debate on the volatile issue of immigration after U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, turned down an offer to debate a fellow Republican on the matter later this month.

U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., is scheduled to visit Utah Aug. 24 and 25 to discuss immigration and border security at three public forums.

The local anti-illegal immigration group, Utahns For Immigration Reform and Enforcement, invited the Colorado congressman and had hoped one of his appearances would include a debate with Cannon.

The two congressmen are on opposite ends of the immigration spectrum — Cannon supports giving undocumented workers a way to earn legal status and is one of President Bush's point men on his comprehensive immigration proposal. Tancredo, on the other hand, is co-sponsoring legislation that would bolster border security, crack down on illegal immigrants and their employers as well as create a temporary guest worker plan without offering amnesty.

In response to the debate invitation, Cannon's chief of staff, Joe Hunter, said simply, "Congressman Cannon plans to spend the 24th at home working on his irrigation system. However, given Mr. Tancredo's recent interest in religious sites, we would suggest our visitor from Colorado might want to occupy his time touring Temple Square."

Hunter was referring to a remark Tancredo made last month that the United States could respond to a nuclear strike by Islamic terrorists by bombing Muslim holy sites.

Tancredo was traveling and could not be reached for comment Wednesday. He has since apologized for offending anyone with his remarks on Muslim holy sites.

UFIRE Chairman Mike Sizer said he believed that those attending the 3forum would probably like to hear from both sides. "It just appears, apparently, that Congressman Cannon feels that our borders, immigration, national security, is just a joke," said UFIRE Chairman Mike Sizer. "I don't think the citizens of Utah consider this to be a joke."

Huntsman Mexico IV

Utahns vs. Huntsman Immigration Policy
Contrary to your front-page headline "Utahns back Huntsman," your poll question merely indicates that 85% in the poll feel that the Governor should "focus on immigration issues." Secondly, the question seems to indicate that Governor Huntsman "will take the lead on finding solutions to (Mexico's) immigration problems." This premise is actually strengthened by his two proposals for 'solutions,' namely "tapping Mexican teachers to help immigrant students learn English" (Deseret News, July 13) and "proposals to speed up the process by which immigrants can become U.S. citizens" (Deseret News, July 14)
I would surmise that these are hardly the solutions to "immigration issues" supported by most Utahns - but solutions were not mentioned in the poorly worded (biased) poll. The question might also be asked, "Why are the results of a poll of 413 Utah residents, with a margin of error of +/- 5 % Front-Page news anyway?" Except for its propaganda value, it should barely make the opinion page.

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Tancredo Debate

UFIRE Sponsors Tancredo - Cannon Debate


UFIRE (Utahns for Immigration Reform and Enforcement) will be sponsoring a debate between Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo and Utah's Congressman Chris Cannon. The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 24th at the Lakeridge Junior High, 951 S 400 W in Orem. Mr. Cannon is well know for his AgJobs bill which "would reform the current agricultural guestworker program to allow agricultural employers unable to find American workers to hire immigrant farmworkers." http://chriscannon.house.gov/press2004/feb24.htm Mr. Tancredo is in the forefront of the national movement to control illegal immigration and is the Founder of Team America, whose "mission is to identify, recruit and help elect to public office individual Patriots who agree with the principle of defending our borders and protecting America's jobs." http://www.tancredo.org/info/team_america_pac.html

Both Congressmen were invited last week to allow their offices to participate in setting the format for the debate. While Mr. Cannon has not responded to UFIRE's invitation to participate, Mr. Tancredo has accepted the challenge as a part of his visit to Utah for public meetings to discuss the illegal immigration issue. He will be speaking in St. George at noon on Thursday, August 25th at the Holiday Inn and in the evening in Salt Lake City at Salt Lake Community College. Congressman Tancredo is being considered as a Republican Presidential candidate in 2008. As Congress is now in its summer recess, hopefully Mr. Cannon can arrange his schedule to attend.

Cannon and Tancredo have debated immigration many times, including an appearance on the O'Reilly Factor and on PBS' Jim Lehrer News Hour. On the Lehrer show Tancredo asked: "I'd love anybody to explain to me how they think amnesty helps solve the problem of illegal immigration; it certainly doesn't. We tried it in 1986. What happened, of course, is immigration -- illegal immigration exploded because we sent the wrong message; that is, get here avoid detection, stay long enough and we'll give you legalized status. It's a bad, bad thing for a government to do." Cannon's response was: "I think the problem here is that when you talk about amnesty, you're dealing with a very divisive concept. And the reason we don't talk about amnesty anymore is because actually we are talking about a very different concept. And frankly we're talking in an environment where the concepts are changing pretty radically. I mean the idea that you would deal with immigration issues in the context of bilateral discussions with a friendly nation is something we haven't done before."
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/congress/july-dec01/immigration_9-6.html

During a forum in Washington, sponsored by the Latino Coalition, a Hispanic business group, Rep. Cannon opined that ""I think he ought to consider his views and decide whether they're consistent with the Republican Party," Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, said of the Colorado congressman" (Tancredo). Tancredo's response was: "Of the two of us, Mr. Cannon is the only one who has had a primary (challenge since taking office)," Tancredo said. "Evidently, there are a lot of people in his district who believe he is not Republican enough."
http://insidedenver.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_3753626,00.html

The immigration issue is ripe for debate and UFIRE members hope that people will join in becoming more informed on both sides so that informed discussion and decisions can be made.