Even though it's a bill we don't want to open, the time has come.
The moment has arrived. Now is today.
Comprehensive immigration reform must be accomplished.
Here are just a few of the obvious reasons:
1) Hard-working, honest men, women, youth and families earn pennies on the dollar from countless unscrupulous employers who take advantage of and exploit the uncredentialed status of their undocumented workers.
2) Undocumented workers are in violation of civil law, their coming to the United States is not a criminal matter. They come here for many of the same reasons my family came here. Why is my family considered noble and theirs not?
3) I benefit from the Social Security contributions made by undocumented labor. These workers pay the equivalent of 10% of the Social Security Trust Fund annually--benefits that the undocumented will never be able to claim.
4) Families who came to the U. S. seeking a better life continue to live in fear and do business in an underground economy.
5) The children of the undocumented brought here with no knowledge of or part in the decision to move face grave limitations as they grow older. For example, those who graduate high school and go on to college have no assurance of being able to work when their training is complete.
6) Millions of these wonderful people have been in the country for decades and consider themselves to be exactly who they are: Americans.
7) Reform will mean a dramatic increase in the net worth of those given this just relief. Driving poverty rates down will follow closely on the heels of reform.
We can't wait any longer.
The time has come.
No more excuses.
Now.
I agree with you, but also we must control the border. Under President Eisenhower the border was controlled without a fence. Of course he was concerned with many issues, but two were the national debt, which was 285 BILLION and illegal immigration. This is what he had to say about immigration in the SOTU speech, Feb. 2, 1953.
ReplyDelete"It is a manifest right of our government to limit the number of immigrants our country can absorb. It is also a manifest right of our government to set reasonable requirments on the character and numbers of people who come to share our land and our freedoms."
He put General Joseph Swing in charge and 95% of Mexican illegals returned to Mexico.
Incidentally, he also thought the system was unfair regarding quotas and would have to be changed in the future, which it was.
All true. R's seem willing to act on this one. The biggest difference seems to be a path to citizenship. I just hope D's do not let the best (citizenship) become the enemy of the good (legal presence). Better to let people come out of the shadows even if they cannot become citizens than to scuttle the whole thing and leave the status quo.
ReplyDeleteWe have a distinct American culture and I hate to see it destroyed by people who do not share our values. Only half of Hispanics think the Constitution should trump international law.
ReplyDeleteComing across the border illegally may not be criminal but if a person is deported and then returns it's good for up to 10 years in prison plus a hefty fine. Also 75% of people who cross illegally use fake documents such as social security cards and other fake papers.
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