Bush administration to curb illegal immigration without help from Congress SUZANNE GAMBOA Associated Press Writer (AP) - WASHINGTON-A crackdown on illegal immigration in the United States will have to go forward without help from Congress, the Bush administration said Friday, asserting that an executive-branch-only approach is better than doing nothing. Two Cabinet secretaries - Homeland Security's Michael Chertoff and Commerce's Carlos Gutierrez - said they hoped to have new tools to combat illegal immigration before moving further to cope with the problem. But Congress could not agree on comprehensive legislation to attack the problem. The officials said they will rely instead on tools already in their arsenal, some of which are already under way, including a plan to administratively sanction employers who hire illegal immigrants. At a joint news conference, Chertoff and Gutierrez put the onus on Congress for any consequences that may be suffered by employers as result of the stepped-up enforcement effort. "Our hope is that key elements of the Senate bill will see the light of day someday, but until Congress chooses to act we are going to be taking some energetic steps of our own," Chertoff said. The steps will "significantly strengthen our hand with respect to immigration enforcement." The White House emphasized that its package of enforcement changes was all it could do under "existing law" - the same law that President George W. Bush has repeatedly called unacceptable. "Although the Congress has not addressed our broken immigration system by passing comprehensive reform legislation, my administration will continue to take every possible step to build upon the progress already made," Bush said as the changes were announced. Presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush has used his executive authority in the past to improve immigration enforcement, such as by strengthening border enforcement. She was pressed on why - if the new changes were such a good idea - Bush hadn't done them already. Perino, talking to reporters traveling in the northeastern state of Maine with Bush, said the president held off on sweeping administrative action while pushing Congress to pass better legislation to address the matter. With that effort now sidelined, she said "We're going as far as we possibly can without Congress acting."

"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of "liberalism," they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened."
- Norman Thomas, U.S. Socialist Party presidential candidate
1940, 1944 and 1948

US stepping up enforcement of immigration laws by raising fines, deploying agents SUZANNE GAMBOA Associated Press Writer (AP) - WASHINGTON - The Bush administration plans to step up immigration enforcement by raising fines on employers who hire undocumented workers, overhauling temporary worker programs and speeding up deployment of border agents, according to a summary of the plans. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez planned to announce broad immigration changes in a news conference Friday. Some of the initiatives are similar to proposals contained in recent immigration legislation, though are not near as sweeping as the bill that failed to pass the Senate. Other measures are already under way. An outline of the announcement, obtained by The Associated Press from a congressional source, said the administration plans to expand the list of international gangs whose members are automatically denied admission to the U.S., reduce processing times for immigrant background checks, and install by the end of the year an exit system so the departure of foreigners from the country can be recorded at airports and seaports. In addition, employers will face possible criminal sanctions if they don't fire employees unable to clear up problems with their Social Security government identification numbers. Also, the Homeland Security Department will ask states to voluntarily share their driver's license photos and records with the agency for use in an employment verification system. The sharing is meant to help employers detect fraudulent licenses, according to the summary. A spokesman for the Homeland Security Department declined to comment because the announcement had not been made. The Commerce Department press office also declined comment. Chertoff alluded to the new enforcement tactics in a speech in Boston on Wednesday, calling to it "tool sharpening." "We shouldn't have a patchwork of laws. We should be doing a comprehensive federal solution, but we haven't got that thing done," Chertoff said. "What I can tell you is we will certainly use every enforcement tool that we have, and every resource that we have available, to tackle the problem." President George W. Bush suffered a major political defeat when Senate immigration legislation failed to pass this year. The legislation was opposed by many conservatives who complained that Americans don't trust the government to start new immigration programs because existing immigration laws are not being enforced. The Senate bill would have allowed millions of illegal immigrants to obtain legal status and eventually apply for legal residency. It also would have created a guest worker program and stepped up border security. Some members have kept up efforts to tighten the border. Last month, the Senate added $3 billion (euro2.2 billion) to a Homeland Security bill to be used for U.S.-Mexico border security.

"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of "liberalism," they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened."
- Norman Thomas, U.S. Socialist Party presidential candidate
1940, 1944 and 1948

Originally Posted by President George Bush I will not forget this wound to our country or those who inflicted it. I will not yield; I will not rest; I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American people. The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them. --- In all that lies before us, may God grant us wisdom, and may He watch over the United States of America.