Does anyone remember when George W. Bush debated Al Gore and Bush opened up his arms real wide and invited Immigrants to come to America?

[sage2021]

There are some things on YouTube to see, but I remember him saying to illegals to come to the melting pot called America.
I don't remember if anyone came, because it was never talked about again.
So why was it so different this time when a different president invited them?

[nightdrot]

In brief, the difference is that Mr. Bush did not follow up his invitation with over 30 Executive Orders that effectively negated the extant immigration laws. The point being that immigration is NOT, per se, a bad thing. Rather, it is uncontrolled immigration without accountability that is the problem.

Indeed, the nation actually needs a degree of immigration. The population - as is happening in all industrialized nations - is aging. The workforce is shrinking relative to population and this, in turn, shrinks the tax base that supports the welfare infrastructure for the elderly and poor - see also Social Security ($21 trillion in unfunded liabilities), Medicare ($45 trillion in unfunded liabilities) and Medicaid. This also shrinks the population that can serve in the armed forces in times of war and crisis, not to mention shrinking the aforementioned tax base to support the defense budget.

The problem is NOT immigration. Rather the problem is the type of immigration. Currently, there is no accountability. There is a flood of illegals whose background, education levels and other factors the nation simply does not know. It is taking on huge potential liabilities because of unregulated immigration.

Mr. Biden reversed - and I say this as NO fan of former President Trump - the generally sensible immigration policies of his predecessor. Not because they were bad policies, but simply because they had been developed by Mr. Trump. This was contrarianism masquerading as public policy and the net result has been a disaster for which the nation will - make no mistake - pay a stiff price.

The immigration debate has been played out on the Internet to a public that, on the whole, tends to feel and react, rather than analyze and plan. Mr. Biden is a symptom of this phenomenon and the nation will reap what it is sewing.

[nightdrot]

P. S. Type-o:

This sentence - "Mr. Biden is a symptom of this phenomenon and the nation will reap what it is sewing."

Should read: "Mr. Biden is a symptom of this phenomenon and the nation will reap what it is sowing."

[CozyCoffin]

That was him and John Kerry back in 2004. He wasn't for illegal immigration. He was for temporary workers.

"And so in order to take pressure off the borders, in order to make the borders more secure, I believe there ought to be a temporary worker card that allows a willing worker and a willing employer to mate up, so long as there’s not an American willing to do that job, to join up in order to be able to fulfill the employers’ needs.

That has the benefit of making sure our employers aren’t breaking the law as they try to fill their workforce needs. It makes sure that the people coming across the border are humanely treated, that they’re not kept in the shadows of our society, that they’re able to go back and forth to see their families. See, the card, it’ll have a period of time attached to it.

It also means it takes pressure off the border. If somebody is coming here to work with a card, it means they’re not going to have to sneak across the border. It means our border patrol will be more likely to be able to focus on doing their job.

Now, it’s very important for our citizens to also know that I don’t believe we ought to have amnesty. I don’t think we ought to reward illegal behavior. There are plenty of people standing in line to become a citizen. And we ought not to crowd these people ahead of them in line.

If they want to become a citizen, they can stand in line, too."

https://www.debates.org/voter-education/debate-transcripts/october-13-2004-debate-transcript/

[FunkyMonkee]

No, I never paid attention to politics, back then. At least not until Bush suddenly won after gore was announced to be the winner.
And, I'll bet George wasn't talking about just walking in scott free! Maybe that was some kind of message to his buddy, bin Laden.

[BoopBoopBeep]

That's a gross oversimplification of the answer. CozyCoffin below already typed out how this is not even wrong.

[sage2021]

@BoopBoopBeep
You didn't address your opinion to a particular user, so were you sending your message to the asker?
I think you need to reread your opinion again unless you meant to put the word wrong at the end.
The one that I am speaking of was the debate in 2000 Bush and Gore.

[BoopBoopBeep]

Yes, to you, and no word is missing. C. Coffin's explanation shows how your mischaracterization of the statements made by Bush were, as the saying goes, "not even wrong."

[exitseven]

Biden is giving them a free ride and a free iPhone.

[Jamie05rhs]

That's very interesting. I remember that election, but I was too young because I was only in 8th Grade. So I don't remember the debates.

[Likes2drive]

I don’t remember it but he probably didn’t promise everything being free when coming here

[Kelly6]

different time different effect