CHARLIE CRIST: WRONG ON AMNESTY FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTSFor over a week now, our campaign has been running an ad truthfully stating that Charlie Crist favors amnesty for illegal immigrants. Charlie has never directly refuted our claim. Instead, Charlie has responded by suggesting that amnesty is a way to “responsibly address the 12 million illegal immigrants currently living in the United States.”
Amnesty threatens public safety, mocks the rule of law, and unfairly punishes those would-be immigrants who’ve played by the rules and waited their turn.
But now even more evidence is emerging about just how irresponsible Charlie Crist’s preferred approach is. Citing a study by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the Washington Post has reported that the Senate immigration billwhich Charlie has publicly supportedwould cost as much as $126 billion over the next decade. Of that amount, $50 billion would be spent on benefits and entitlements for people who are now in our country illegally. Apparently, there’s no government spending program too big for “Blank Check Charlie.”
As Tom has said before, the issue of illegal immigration is one that we must discuss respectfully and with civility. Immigrants have made and will continue to make enormous contributions to our country. Nonetheless, Tom opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants and believes that our borders must be secured before having any other conversations about immigration .
As Governor, Tom would use state law and resources to fight illegal immigration. Earlier in our campaign, Tom announced a detailed immigration policy.
Specifically, Tom has proposed: giving Florida law enforcement the authority to detain those who’ve committed federal immigration law violations; expanding Florida’s law enforcement partnership with the Department of Homeland Security to assist in identifying illegal immigrants who attempt to use fraudulent identification documents; prohibiting government and government contractors from hiring illegal immigrants; and continuing Jeb Bush’s efforts to strengthen economic ties between Florida and Latin America, so that there will be less incentive for illegal immigration.
The differences between Tom and Charlie Crist on the issue of illegal immigration could not be more stark. Tom opposes amnesty and has a plan to fight illegal immigration in our state. Charlie supports amnesty and has no plan to do anything about illegal immigration.
Let’s continue to work as hard as we can to ensure that Tom Gallagher, the only true conservative in the race, is elected Florida’s next governor.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT THE SENATE IMMIGRATION PLAN:
“The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006” (S.2611)
needs significant changes before it represents the comprehensive approach required to dramatically and permanently decrease illegal border crossing and unlawful presence in the United States
Deterrence is an essential component of security, but the Senate plan would undermine deterrence. Provisions in the bill provide for the “legalization” of individuals unlawfully present in the United States for over five years. This amounts to a grant of amnesty to millions.” (The Heritage Foundation "Senate Immigration Plan Fails to Deliver Comprehensive Border Security" by James Jay Carafano, 05/16/06)
"When it became clear this week that there weren't enough Senate votes to overcome a filibuster against the McCain-Kennedy-Specter amnesty for illegal immigrants, supporters of that approach moved to Plan B. Devised by Sens. Chuck Hagel and Mel Martinez, this "compromise" is being promoted by Majority Leader Bill Frist, and appears to have won the approval of Senate Democrats...This plan has all the problems of the other amnesty proposals: It rewards lawbreaking, it will lead to increased illegal immigration, and it is impossible to administer. (National Review Editorial, 04/07/06)
"All told, the [Senate Immigration] bill would increase the annual flow of legal immigrants into the U.S. to more than 2 million from roughly 1 million today, scholars and analysts say. These proposed increases are in addition to the estimated 10 million to 12 million illegal aliens already in the U.S. whom the bill would put on a path to citizenship. These figures also do not take into account the hundreds of thousands of additional immigrants who would be admitted to the U.S. each year under the guest-worker program that is part of the bill. 'If there is anyone left in the world, we would accept another 325,000 through the guest-worker program in the first year,' said NumbersUSA's Rosemary Jenks, who supports stricter immigration laws. (The Washington Times, 05/15/06)
"One of the most alarming aspects of the bill, they say, are the provisions that drastically alter not only how many but also which type of workers are ushered into the country
The percentage of work visas that would go to the highly educated or highly skilled wo...
