Plan for Immigration
“The time to fix our broken immigration system is now… We need stronger enforcement on the border and at the workplace… But for reform to work, we also must respond to what pulls people to America… Where we can reunite families, we should. Where we can bring in more foreign-born workers with the skills our economy needs, we should”
— Barack Obama, Statement on U.S. Senate Floor, May 23, 2007
Read more on Obama's postions on immigration reform at http://www.barackobama.com/issues/immigration/
Tell us what you think the Democratic Party position should be on immigration. Add your comment now.
5 comments:
A path to citizenship must exist.
In addition that path could and should include mandatory community service to provide a feeling of national service to the country and citizens who provide for one another.
If we truly believe the words, on the statue of Liberty, then we should make it easier for those who want to come here to do so. We need various entry places established where people can enter legally. At one time we used Ellis Island in New York. This not only allowed for more jobs in "this" country but gave those entering knowledge of where and who was here to help them become true members of our society. In this way, the paperwork is started, those who are fugitives from justice in their countries can be found, and communicable diseases can be caught before it is exposed to the public. People who are made to feel welcome become better and more supportive citizens.
First and foremost, like most of our Ancestors, people should use legal channels to come to the United States and not enter illegally. Also we all need to keep in mind not all come here with good intentions.
Our borders should be secure, and those who have entered the U.S. legally and who are waiting for their citizenship should go first.
There should be some type of protection enforced in the job place to insure American Citizens are not passed over in favor of an illegla alien because the employer can pay them a lower amount of pay and take advantage of illegals and American Citizens while the employers pad their profit margin.
There should be checks and balances and not just across the board amnesty. Keep in mind the fact that our schools, hospitals can not support an influx of illegal aliens and the family members they will bring with them.
People crossing our borders illegally for the purpose of doing harm by bringing drugs into our Country, and those who create gangs in areas where there never were gangs such as in Mannatee County, Florida, shoot outs on area beaches and in neighborhoods, where at least one innocent child was gunned down in not the way we want to go about opening our borders.
Gang lifestyle is NOT an acceptable way of life and we must see to it that other cities do not become like Los Angeles.
Everything must be well thought out with consideration of all the facts and not done with wild abandon.
I speak as a member of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, eligible for the Jamestowne Society and other blood lineage organizations make possible by my Ancestors, all sides, including several South Eastern American Aboriginees, better known as American Indians.
Yes, we welcome the worlds tired and poor but we can not turn our Country into a third world nation in the process by burdeoning our medical, welfare, and education systems. Think first about all of these things before you think about the lady in the harbor. With every action there is a reaction.
What I see happening in the construction trade and others in the Southern states makes me worry about the younger generation. What I see with jobs being outsourced not just overseas but to illegals who live in commune situations who will work for less than a Citizen is reason to worry.
We have a lot of people out of work and it isn't just people who don't want to work, it is people whose jobs have been given to workers who are here illegally and will work for much less than our young men and women can survive on without losing all they have worked for.
Think....
It is unfortunate that immigration has become a partisan issue. It is an issue that is easily fueled by xenophobia. Historically, each wave of immigrants that have come here have been judged through a lens of fear. We should, as Democrats, attempt to remove the emotional view and develope platform constructs that will satisfy the concerns of all Americans.
I observe that beyond these ethnic or racial fears, most folks are now concerned about security. Borders loom large. How do we secure them? Walls are not the answer. Knowledge of our northern and southern borders informs us that it is simply impossible to build walls. We need more technologically sophisticated surveilance.
We also need more orderly sytems of immigration that are thorough but not cumbersome and punitive. Most of all, we need to regulate and enforce rules that prevent employers from being exploitive. We know that higher wages will put illegal immigrants and legal citizens on par...and it will not translate to higher prices in the market place because most of the current profit resulting from lesser wages is pocketed beyond normal margins.
I am also not opposed to "quotas", in which businesses might be required to show some percentage of their work force as documented...or some percentage of non-citizens to not exceed a percentage. Overall, I believe that preventing businesses from the current practice of exploitation will eventually have a significant outcome. If illegal immigrants cannot find work, they will need to either apply for citizenship or return home.
I simplify these ideas to make the point. I believe that greater security and regulating and enforcing current American businesses practices would both go a long way to helping average Americans feel more comfortable with our immigration policies
As long as we allow trade agreements that reduce the wages and working conditions in both our country and theirs, and as long as there is basically no enforcement to stop employers from hiring people who are here illegally for starvation wages, there will be no stop to immigration. Demand labor standards abroad that are competitive to ours, and people will not leave their home countries.
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