PenceBlog: Talking points on my immigration plan - U.S. Congressman Mike Pence : 6th District Of Indiana

I thought you might be interested in reading some talking points I wrote this afternoon about my immigration bill. You can read the full speech I gave outlining my proposal here.

Here are a few key facts about The Pence Plan I want to make sure everyone knows:

The Pence Plan includes all of the tough border security and employer sanctions passed by the House of Representatives in December 2005. The only changes we made are those already publicly embraced by the House Judiciary Committee.
The Pence Plan does not grant a path to citizenship of any kind. Anyone interested in applying for a fourth consecutive 2-year guest worker visa would have to be seeking legal permanent status or citizenship and get in line behind everybody else.
The Pence Plan does not include any form of amnesty. When a person can get right with the law without going home, that’s amnesty. I believe no bill is better than a bad bill that grants amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants.
The Pence Plan requires that illegal immigrants leave the country to apply for the legal right to work here under a guest worker visa. Anyone applying to participate in a new guest worker program would have to apply outside the United States.
The Senate passed a bill granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens and I will not support it. Amnesty is not the answer. It will only worsen the problem because it will cause more people to come here illegally with the hope of someday having their status adjusted.
The Pence Plan does not favor illegal immigrants over people who have not broken our immigration laws. Anyone may apply for a guest worker visa at the new Ellis Island Centers outside the United States.
The Pence Plan may actually work to the advantage of applicants who have never violated our immigration laws since anyone can apply for a guest worker visa and those people are already outside the United States.
The Pence Plan will work because it relies on the private sector, not a failed government bureaucracy. Private worker placement agencies will be licensed to match willing guest workers with jobs in America. The private agencies will process the guest workers and collaborate with the FBI and Homeland Security to have background checks done on each guest worker. In one week or less, legal guest workers will have their applications processed, background checks performed, visas issued.

posted by Pence Press Office # 2:29 PM