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Local congressmen say Bush guest-worker plan troubling
By Jennifer Sami
Staff Writer
Forsyth County’s representa¬
tives in Congress say President
Bush’s guest worker plan trou¬
bles members of his own party
despite Bush’s recent tour in
support of an immigration pro¬
posal he originally drafted in
January 2004.
Bush’s plan endorses speed¬
ing up deportations, building
more jail cells to house illegal
immigrants, securing borders
and enforcing penalties for busi¬
nesses hiring illegal immigrants.
However, Bush also is seeking a
temporary-worker program
which would give immigrants a
temporary green card to “fill
jobs that Americans will not do.”
Bush’s immigration enforce¬
ment plan appears to have the
full backing of his party, but the
guest-worker program might be
more difficult to sell, according
to U.S. Rep. John Linder (R
Duluth).
“He’s going to have a prob¬
lem with that unless he sells it
very hard. It smacks [of]
amnesty to a lot of people,” said
Linder, who represents
Georgia’s 7th Congressional
District which includes part of
Forsyth.
I think we need the work¬
ers,” he said. “You can’t get a
crop out of the ground in south
Georgia without these people,
but they need to come in through
legal channels, and we need to
Daves Creek not to be used
By Crystal Ledford
Staff Writer
Forsyth County Schools
central office personnel say
there are no plans to imple¬
ment throughout the system a
new security measure being
used at one school.
David Adams, director of
school safety and manage¬
ment, said currently the sys¬
tem has no plans to implement
the Raptor Technologies com¬
puter program that allows
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66
He's problem going with to have that a
unless he sells it very
hard. It smacks [of]
amnesty to a lot oif
people.
- Rep. John Linder (R
Duluth)
come down on business people
who go out and recruit them to
work for them.”
U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal (R
Gainesville) said the problem
directly affects Forsyth County
as the Hispanic population has
noticeably increased during his
tenure in Congress.
“The issue of illegal immi¬
gration has such a heavy impact
on my congressional district
because we have such huge
numbers here,” said Deal, whose
10th Congressional District
includes part of Forsyth.
“Our area is a job magnet
because we’ve had the need for
additional workers,” Deal said.
“That has its good side in that
they are supplying necessary
labor, but we should be doing it
in a legal fashion and not an ille¬
gal fashion, where you have to
depend on forged Social
office personnel at Daves
Creek Elementary to quickly
see if visitors to their school
are on state and national sex
offender lists.
“It depends on the success
of the program at Daves
Creek,” said Adams. “But
there are no definite plans at
this time.”
Adams did say he and
other central office personnel
have discussed the idea of uti¬
lizing the system throughout
all Forsyth County Schools.
t ]
99
Security numbers and other
forged documents.”
In a recent address, Bush
said that while he supports
increasing the number of annual
green cards leading to citizen¬
ship, he would not sign an immi¬
gration bill that includes
amnesty. He also said a country
can be both welcoming and law
ful.
Ralph Perales, chairman
elect of the Georgia Hispanic
Chamber of Commerce, said the
plan is a good start.
“The main concern I have is
the part where the president said
he opposes any kind of amnesty.
It’s one of those words that can
mean many things. The devil is
in the details,” said Perales.
“Any kind of guest work pro¬
gram has to have some path that
allows a worker, at some time, to
become a permanent resident,
“We’re truly taking a look
at it (the program),” he said.
“This is an issue (sex offend¬
ers having access to children
at school) where there’s a lot
of concern. It’s definitely a
legitimate concern and we
want to do all we can to pre¬
vent it.”
Daves Creek Elementary
School principal Kathy
Carpenter said her school paid
the approximately $1,500 fee
for the system after parents
expressed concern about
after he has proven his moral
character, paid his taxes and
become a productive member of
society.”
Perales said he also noticed
the policy does not address the
current 10 to 12 million immi
grants according to the
Center for Immigration Studies
— in the United States illegally.
Sending illegal immigrants
back to their countries would
pose an economic disaster to
both the United States and their
country of origin, he said. But
allowing them to remain in
America illegally diminishes
America’s power of enforce¬
ment, he added.
“I think the key here is to
have an immigration policy that
goes beyond our borders. And
that has been a failure in the
policies of our country. They
have always stopped at our bor¬
der,” said Perales. “We have to
recognize today that we live in a
global economy and when you
have the movement of goods
and trade, with that is going to
come people. You have to recog¬
nize today that you need a sys¬
tem that allows for the move¬
ment of people in a way that is
controlled and flexible.”
Bush’s policy specifically
said the program would not pro¬
vide the opportunity for citizen¬
ship to illegal immigrants.
However, the possibility has
many Republicans concerned.
Deal said.
“There are many members
school safety.
Carpenter said members of
the school’s Local School
Council conducted a survey of
parents asking the parents to
list their top concerns. The
day-to-day safety of the stu¬
dents was the No. 1 concern
given.
Through the Raptor sys¬
tem, all visitors to the school
are asked to allow office per¬
sonnel to make a quick scan of
their driver’s license. That
scan compares the person’s
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS — Sunday, December 4,200S
66
The issue of illegal
immigration heavy has such a
impact on my
because congressional district
we have such
huge numbers here.
- Rep. Nathan Deal (R
Cainesville)
who want to see the enforcement
first. Once they see he is com¬
mitted to enforcing the law,
maybe at that point they will
entertain the guest-worker part
of his proposal,” said Deal. “I
think that in the absence of
enforcement, the only thing a
new guest-worker program does
is increase the flow of illegal
immigrants over the border.”
Deal said he also has pro¬
posed a Birthright Citizen bill,
dealing with illegal immigrants
giving birth in the United States
to acquire citizenship. He said it
would make a good addition to
Bush’s immigration proposal,
but is doubtful the bill would
pass this year.
Jon Flack, chairman of the
Forsyth County Democratic
Party, said he agrees that the fed¬
eral government should work
toward decreasing the flow of
identity with sex offender
lists.
A copy of the visitor’s
photo on their license is trans¬
ferred onto a visitor’s badge
with the date, time and loca¬
tion in the school they are
visting.
Carpenter said in addition
to preventing sex offenders
from entering the school, the
system also is useful in cases
of custody disputes. She said
if a custodial parent can pro-.
vide proper legal documents
PAGE 7A
IS ■>3
£ -j
99
immigrants. There is merit to
Bush’s policy, he said, but there
is room for additions.
“He needs to support a tem¬
porary work plan that creates a
path toward residency. If we
don’t do that, he’s going to do
something Democrats don’t sup¬
port and that’s creating an
underclass that undermines
wages and working conditions,”
he said.
“The Democratic Party is not
interested in obstructing the
issue. We want to retain some of
our core values which are mak¬
ing sure to protect Americans
and make sure they have real
wages, and decent working con¬
ditions. We want to be able to
work with the President in a
bipartisan way to make sure
these things happen.”
For more information on
Bush’s immigration policy, visit
to the school in cases in yvhich
the other parent might attempt
to kidnap the child, these doc¬
uments are entered into the
system also. The scan of the
driver’s license can detect if a
parent is involved in such a
dispute.
The Raptor Technologies
program is currently being
used in around 1,200 schools
in more than 100 school sys¬
tems throughout the nation,
according to the company’s
Web site.