I don’t have it in for Reagan. I just think IRCA was an extremely stupid move. I was there for most of it. INS followed the law. The law stank.

There were no enforcement teeth to IRCA. The only thing close to teeth was employer sanctions and your couldn’t enforce those because employers always had the argument that they weren’t immigration officers and couldn’t be expected to know what a counterfeit document was. Explanation: The I-9 was introduced with IRCA and requires that a prospective employee provide documentation that they are legally entitled to work. This created a still booming business in poor quality counterfeit green cards used almost exclusively for the I-9. Immigration Officers call them 50 footers because you can spot them that far away. But, employers still aren’t immigration officers and it’s almost impossible to prosecute them due to the term “knowingly violate” in the law.

So, IRCA had no teeth and it allowed millions of people to obtain benefits based on being successful criminals. It’s like telling bank robbers that if you get away clean five times, you will be pardoned. This was a stupid law. Period.

Other than that, everything else Reagan did in his eight years (defeating the Soviets, returning capitalism and pride to the USA, lowering tax rates to create an economic boom, making Jimmy Carter irrelevant, etc..) is, in my book, what makes him the greatest President of the 20th century.

On March 16th, 2009 at 1:16 pm, NJ-Aviator said:

True story.

…

Wondering if he got that expensive ER-performed health care?

Oh you bet he did.

Wondering further if he got a bill? Oh.. I seriously doubt it.

No – *YOU* got the bill. Didn’t you see it in the higher cost of *your* treatment and/or the higher cost of *your* insurance premiums.

Hospitals can’t simply eat the cost of illegal aliens – they pass it on to people who actually follow the rules and pay.

You and me.

Illegals should get no welfare benefits. No education benefits (especially no in-state tuition – in fact they should not be allowed to attend public college at all). And no non-life-threatening healthcare benefits.

Odds are good that another a bunch of criminal illegal alien invader will be bedding down mere feet away.

There ya go PJ…

Odds are good that another criminal illegal alien invader will be bedding down mere feet away.

I’d better get my friends Smith and Wesson and Mossberg oiled up and ready for some action – - seeing that our country won’t be taking care of things for us.

You are absolutely right. Doctors take an oath to treat fellow humans. To think that Doctors or hospitals should be off limits to anyone in need would A. be morally wrong and B. negate the conservative argument against Socialized Medicine.

ECS, you are also correct in saying that if we actually prevented illegal aliens from entering the USA, Graysonret wouldn’t have this dilemma.

We have pretty tough laws on Immigration already on the books. The solution is to make politicians allow the correct Officers to enforce them. It won’t look pretty on TV. Real Law Enforcement rarely does.

Hey, I’ve thought of a great use of the ‘Fairness Doctrine.” Every time the MSM tells a sob story about illegals, they need to tell one of the murder/rape/robbery/gang/prisoner sort.

Well, you have me. I just can’t justify Reagan actually believing that in my head. He had so many other things right.

I started with the INS when HW was President and the term “Enforcement Minded” was used by most INS Officers at the time as a slander. I was constantly reminded that we were a “Service” while I sat in a strip mall parking lot and listened to Nigerians tell tales of picking onions out of trees so they could qualify as “Special Agricultural Workers”. If we dared deny someone, the gentle hand of a Supervisor would be on your shoulder and a grave head shaking followed by the “come to Jesus” talk would follow. Apparently, the Bush Administration INS didn’t issue denial stamps for a reason.

It is just a disappointment, really. When I saw W try for amnesty just before 9/11 and shamnesty a few years ago, I just stopped trusting any of them.

However, I can’t abide Socialism so I will vote for anyone before voting Democrat. In today’s climate, that leaves one choice..

then services rendered to illegals are necessarily services likely denied to citizens and legal residents. …Services that might desperately be needed to boot.

Don’t ask us to decide who should have treatment and who should wait, based on anything else than how critical the patient is. You want stronger immigration laws…fine, I most hardly agree! Get out there and do something about it. Don’t ask us to make that decision. You, a citizen, is sitting there with a problem, and an illegal alien comes through in cardiac arrest, guess who waits? In Stalin’s time, he would. In an ER, we must maintain a high standard of morality. I may work on a bunch of illegals all morning…doing all I can to treat them or even save them. Then, in the afternoon, off duty, go out and join a protest against illegals. We have our professional lives and our personal lives; sometimes, in conflict. What we live with.

On March 16th, 2009 at 5:03 pm, conservative in europe said:

Hey, I hear ya. It was a huge mistake to ever grant amensty, and I was disappointed when it happened.

But Reagan did beleive we would enforce the laws (especially employment laws) in the future. He saw it as a tradeoff. But Congress never followed through on any of the provisions to stop illegal immigration. Here is one excerpt from this article in the NY Times (it’s acutally a rebuke of the 2006 amensty legislation).

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/24/opinion/24meese.html

“In the mid-80’s, many members of Congress — pushed by the Democratic majority in the House and the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy — advocated amnesty for long-settled illegal immigrants. President Reagan considered it reasonable to adjust the status of what was then a relatively small population, and I supported his decision.

In exchange for allowing aliens to stay, he decided, border security and enforcement of immigration laws would be greatly strengthened — in particular, through sanctions against employers who hired illegal immigrants. If jobs were the attraction for illegal immigrants, then cutting off that option was crucial. “

[T]he Pew Hispanic Center estimates that about 59 percent of the 11.9 million illegal immigrants living in the United States have no health insurance…

Where’s the rest of the story? I want to know how the other 41 percent are getting insured.