Legal immigration is one of the most influential ingredients of the
American economy and to our unified cultural distinctiveness. All of us
are children, in some form or another, of immigrants. One of the great
things about America beyond our opportunities of freedom is that we are
also a land of compassionate people. Realizing that we are a
compassionate nation we are eager to provide the opportunities of
freedom and the American Dream to those who come here legally, but what
do we do with those who are hear illegally...
I believe in second chances. If an illegal immigrant working here would like to re-enter legally, as a guest worker and/or as a legal immigrant, they should be given that opportunity. There are many that do not support this a measure which allows immigrants who are here illegally to start over and apply for legal citizenship. Because we are dealing with people, illegal immigrants should be afforded a clean slate IF they follow the proper rules and procedures. If they're willing to earn citizenship, legally, they should be given a second chance but there can be no shortcuts.
The key to immigration is not expanding more government control so that the national debt and hyper-taxation because of program expansion thus making it worse here than where they came from; but through sensible reform which would combine stronger border security with higher visa levels and a realistic path to citizenship. We are a nation of laws not a nation of men, meaning all are equal under the law so yes, I believe illegal’s should pay fines and go to the back of the citizenship line. Employers must aggressively cooperate with the current laws. But compassion must coexist with free-market economy principles and the rule of law, otherwise both from extremes of the spectrum, will ultimately further erode this nation from within.
I support a common sense approach to putting people on a path to legal citizenship without creating extra hardship or an atmosphere of intimidation. Induction into civil servant positions such as the military, law enforcement, EMT, Firefighter, etc would all be considered after the individuals applying to such programs received both citizenship training (which includes English) and a comprehensive background check. Illegals who are criminals should be deported immediately, as their past places us all at great risk. Unfortunately it is not only the illegal immigrants with criminal pasts who are putting all of us at risk, those who enter here illegally also unknowingly victimize their children.
A tragic fact to remember is that children brought here or born here by an illegal immigrant are victims; but so are the children of legal immigrants and citizens who pay for it in taxes and fewer services themselves. We cannot deny care to an illegal immigrant, as a civilized nation it is unconscionable, but it is not fair for the rest of us who are here legally to fit the bill for those who are here illegally.
One solution to consider would be for initiating tax incentives and policies on a city and state level that fosters increased local and regional self-reliance on the state level, whereby encouraging greater investment in local natural capital, through the development of strong, diverse local economies already ‘in place.’ Such measures would raise local capacities and reduce both the pull and push factors present in illegal migration.
I am committed to supporting and encouraging extensive citizenship initiatives on the local and state level whereby English as a common language as well as laws of the United States and social customs of America Culture are taught so that immigrants will no longer will be perceived as "outsiders" from not knowing how to integrate in our unique blended culture. Then after graduation and a criminal background check, present the graduates with legal IDs so that they can begin the process of coming out of the shadows and begin to both contribute and benefit fully from everything America has to offer.
As long as the American prosperity beckons, immigrants in search of opportunity and freedom will continue to flood into this country every year. And due to economic conditions, socialized welfare states, totalitarian regimes or just to be reunited with their families is just a few of the incentives that motivates them to do so.
One of the ways to reduce illegal immigration is to raise the current unskilled H-2B visa level and bring it in line with job openings in the United State only after it has been offered to unemployed Americans first. With the current official unemployment numbers setting at 10.5%(unofficially and more realistically higher) we cannot do either our selves or immigrants a favor if we cannot even support ourselves first. This, in my opinion, is one of the only feasible economic solution to the chronic problem of illegal immigration. The idea worked forty years ago with the successful Bracero program for farm workers. I believe it can work again.
Lets face it - cheap labor is extremely alluring, which is why corporate business owners are reluctant to cut back immigration to sustainable levels and follow the laws. As we have expanded our economy to be primarily global in reach instead of nationally. The demand for affordable products shaped by international markets, overseas labor costs coupled with hyper-taxation and cost of living hikes here makes breaking immigration laws more palatable,
Only when there is an economic downturn, do we want to jump on the immigration bandwagon. Businesses argue that they need cheap labor to maintain their domestic industries, and while this is a compelling argument for many, the fact of the matter is that cheap labor jobs wind up being more expensive than outsourcing, because illegal immigration quantity carries a higher cost for the ordinary taxpayer, than the company simply packing up shop and taking a few native jobs abroad and both end up taking jobs away from both native born and legal immigrants here.
Many complain about high taxes and the coming policies of socialism and rightly so, but we also forget that when we import hundreds of thousands of immigrants, legal or illegal, we will have to pay the price for them sooner or later. Global competition may rely on cheap labor, but cheap labor inevitably leads to the problems that create socialism, because importing a population who cannot understand the language and deemed "second-class" eventually becomes incapable of caring for itself, and thus will burden the government and welfare programs.
Virtually every major social problem in the "First World Nations" can be traced to the desire for cheap labor in one way or another. From gang rapes in California to Islamic Extremists in London, from drug dealing in Sydney, to riots in Paris and honor killings in Sweden, the common element in these social problems is that they are caused by people who were brought in because they were once considered cheap labor. But cheap labor quickly turns out to be really expensive in the end.
Our laws are in place to protect those of us who are here legally so that those who wish to come here can have all the opportunities that they have dreamed of. If we violate our responsibility on this issue we will establish a negative precedent that will ultimately come back to harm ourselves.
Every year, millions of foreigners enter the U.S. as visitors or workers for a specified period of time. Although the laws stipulate that they are expected to return home at the end of their visit, unfortunately there is no effective means for detecting those who do not obey the law.
I am committed to creating and enforcing stricter exit-entry controls on our nation’s borders. There is something fundamentally wrong with our present immigration policy, border control, our federal enforcement, and our current structure and laws when Fox News, CNN, Bloomberg, ABC, CBS, NBc and MSNBC can show us hundreds or thousands of illegal immigrants racing across the border every night and the federal government can't seem to find them, round them up, and ship them back. We have got to exercise some common sense about immigration and border security instead of taxing us every year to support and fund ineffective measures that put the border security personnel, the citizens and the illegal immigrant at risk every day.
Without a bold and comprehensive exit-entry controls reform, the U.S. Government has no real way of knowing whether a nonimmigrant overstays their visa and is in violation of our immigration laws. It is in the absence of such a system, that those seeking to bring about our demise can more easily enter the U.S. as nonimmigrant’s and remain here to attack us from within. It is through this loophole that most of the September 11th hijackers entered as nonimmigrant’s and then overstayed their visas undetected. Additionally I believe there should be tighter enforcement of The Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) already in place.
Additionally I support more comprehensive reform and empowerment of local authorities to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA); empowered Immigration to provide training to local law enforcement agencies, who would then gain authority to detain suspected illegal aliens. Unfortunately its parent, the Department of Justice (DOJ), at present have taken no real action to inform local jurisdictions about the option or to encourage them to do so.
Congress defined in the INA, giving the power of enforcement of the civil provisions, which includes apprehension and removal of deportable aliens, to the federal authorities alone, with states and local authorities playing an incidental supporting role. Since the state themselves are their ultimate authority as given in the 10th amendment, why is this tolerated? Local law enforcement officials should be empowered to enforce immigration law as they are more in touch with the local climate and act much faster with less bureaucracy. Immigration is a nation issue but the immediate effects are locally. To have real reform on this issue we have to start and empower at a local level, then it becomes much easier to manage and administer at the federal level.
For immigration and national security to work it actually needs to be implemented from the bottom up. The immigration and national security issues in El Paso Texas are not going to be the same as we face here in Connecticut or the same as they face in Washington DC. Local intelligence and involvement which empowers its citizens, local law enforcement and state level authorities first will provide the proper governance and security needed to ensure that the opportunities that bring immigrants here with continue to be here for generations to come.
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I really want to hear your feedback on this issue. As an individual running as a Senator, my job would be to listen to you as your representative and then act accordingly upon the expressed will of you, the people. This is why at the end of every issue I have a comment feedback section, because without your direct involvement in this campaign, I would just be another politician promoting my agenda over that of those whom I work for and was elected to represent.
