New Hampshire's Virtual Town Hall
We need comprehensive immigration reform this year.
We need comprehensive immigration reform this year.
- Immigration reform must promote economic opportunity. We must renew our commitment to helping all low-income Americans improve their job prospects and move up the economic ladder towards the American Dream.
- Immigration reform must be comprehensive. Unless we tackle the broken immigration system as a whole, we will fail to solve the problem at hand.
- Long-term reform requires long term solutions. The factors shaping immigration are not just domestic; the issue transcends our borders. As such, how we as a country approach our relationships with other nations matters. We must deal with the domestic aspect of this issue and work in partnership with other countries over time to develop long-term strategies.
A reform package that works for all communities and families in America should include the following:
- A rational and humane approach to the undocumented population. We must address the more than twelve million undocumented immigrants living in this country by creating a rigorous registration process that leads to lawful permanent resident status and eventual citizenship.
- Protect U.S. and immigrant workers. Immigration reform is a component of building real economic security, contributing to a shared prosperity agenda that maintains and improves wages and working conditions in the United States and in other countries. We must protect all workers’ rights, regardless of whether they were born in the United States or abroad, and any employment verification system should determine employment authorization accurately and efficiently while protecting workers and good-faith employers.
- Allocate sufficient visas to close unlawful migration channels. One of the great failures of our current system is that the level of legal immigration is set arbitrarily by Congress—as a product of political compromise. The allocation of employment visas to workers should be depoliticized and placed in the hands of an independent commission that can assess labor shortages and determine the number and characteristics of foreign workers to be admitted, with Congress's approval.
- Enhance our nation's security and safety. A sensible enforcement strategy will keep America safe, protect due process and human rights, make the most effective use of the tools and policies already available in a fair and reasonable manner, and be fiscally responsible. Such a strategy would prioritize enforcement actions to target genuine threats, violent individuals, unscrupulous employers; traffickers and drug smugglers, and those that might exploit the immigration system to do the country harm.
- Establish a strategic border enforcement policy that reflects American values. A border strategy that prioritizes the safety and security of border communities and consults with these communities in the process is the best way to ensure that our border policies protect our national security, while balancing enforcement with economic development and human and civil rights.
- Keep American families together. Our outdated family immigration channels, which keep close family members separated for decades, must be reformed to restore our commitment to promoting family unity.
- Promote immigrant integration. The federal government must help new immigrants learn our language and laws, ensure equal opportunity for immigrants to participate in programs and services, and support state and local governments’ efforts to help integrate these new Americans.
- Protect fundamental rights for all. Congress must restore basic civil liberties and reaffirm Constitutional protections for all individuals in this country and renew our commitment to core American values of fairness and justice.
Tags: comprehensive, economy, immigrants, immigration, jobs, reform
Views: 57
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Byron Fairbrother on -
One problem to your argument is that they are criminals (not illegals) and not being citizens they do not have the rights of citizenship. If only the government treated them as such maybe a deterrent (Harsh punishment) could be implemented to keep these criminals out of the US. If you saw someone refuse to strap a baby in a car seat you would be the first to scream criminal. Lets hear your outrage for their criminal act. Or is there another issue here. Do you need more progressive voters to keep your unconstitutional agendas progress towards complete socialism? Now don't get in an uproar about my opposing opinion. I still have a right to it even if you don't think I should. I just think we need to treat these people that have decided to break our laws by crossing the border as the criminals that they are. I’m outraged at the lack of true justice, punish the criminal not reward them. If you feel they cross the boarder because of living conditions in their country mandates they flee then maybe you should donate each and every one of your paychecks to Mexico so some Mexican doesn’t cross over in an attempt to take an American job from an American citizen. If enough progressives performed this very progressive act with your own cash then maybe we wouldn’t have to have a border fix. A hypocrite is a person with a false appearance of virtue.
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Permalink Reply by Kris Schultz on -
We are a nation of immigrants, but the rules have gotten out of whack. My relatives who came here from Ireland and Germany also faced discrimination, but the rules allowed their entry to this country in a much smoother, swifter way. Now people wait for 5, 10, 15 or more years, while waiting to be reunited with their children or spouses, and have little true pathway to citizenship. But what Arizona is doing doesn't fix the problem, it exacerbates it. DOING NOTHING is the wrong approach, which is what the White House and Congress are poised to do, if we don't urge them to take action. And our state legislatures are too busy with their own budget battles to have time for this debate, too.
I am not disagreeing with the point that being in the USA as a non-citizen without proper paperwork is illegal behavior. To the contrary. As some lawyer-friends have recently told me, an undocumented immigrant is committing a Class B Misdemeanor. Other class b misdemeanors are crimes like DWI, theft under $500, trespassing. Those crimes are typically punishable by a small fine. But we don't go around calling our friends who've had DWI's "illegals!" They are both the same classification of crimes. I won't offer any excuses for breaking the law, and certainly don't condone it. It's worth pointing out that while driving after drinking is clearly not the right thing to do, the reasons why someone is here as an undocumented immigrant are far more complex and far more rooted in underground economic incentives for doing so. Basically, the problem is that there simply not enough visas and green cards for what our businesses and our families (most of whom are here as citizens) to bring in the relatives or workers that the are in need of bringing to this country.
Worse than that, there are certainly sectors of our economy which depend on immigrant labor, as either we don't have enough Americans trained to do those jobs (some health care and high tech jobs in NH, for example) OR the jobs are not ones Americans typically do not do (agriculture & janitorial jobs in NH.)
What we're allowing now if we keep the status quo is NOT RIGHT: an underground economy, people hiding in the shadows, allowing for exploitation and an obfuscation of sorting out criminals who NONE of us want here with those who while undocumented, wish only to play by the rules, work hard, go to church, and care for their families. There's a massive distinction to be made here, and the more we ignore those distinctions we do so at our peril.
What do we gain by implementing brand new comprehensive immigration reform laws? A more secure nation, as law enforcement can focus on rapists, robbers, and even terrorists, rather than become deputy ICE agents. Businesses can more adequately fill the jobs they need to fill without going to an underground economy. All workers benefit when those jobs are brought to parity with the rest of the country by way of pay and basic worker protections. And while you and I pay our fair share, and some undocumented immigrants do too without ever claiming any benefits, the rest of the undocumented immigrants who currently pay no taxes would be paying their fair share.
Recently the conservative CATO instutute joined with the liberal Center for American Progress. They'v eproduced a study that shows that by passing immigratino reform this year, we;d ahve $1.5 Trillion of added benefit to the American economy over the next 10 years. These views are based on my belief in Democracy, Capitalism, and our REpublican form of Government. I'm no socialist, communist, nor facist. I'm a patriotic American, have lead flag ettiquet classes, and mail books and treats to our soldiers serving overseas. I didn't have to say any of that, as none of my views needed to be couched with any sort of defeniveness... I just am not so keen to the way that folks have been throwing around such terms with little accuracy as to their application and just wanted to be clear with my point of view.
People who share my views on immigratino reform include Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Governor Jeb Bush, and even NH Senator Judd Gregg. Those aren't socialist liberals.
I'll leave it at that for now, even though I could post many more facts and opinions. While I don't fully understand the premise of all of your arguments, Byron, I do my best to be respectful to any who have differing opinions from me. Ultimately, my biggest hope is that the facts and the truth can come to light as best as possible, perhaps aided by me. -
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Permalink Reply by Kris Schultz on
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this thing needs a spell check.
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Permalink Reply by LFDA Editor on -
Duly noted Kris. We will look into it. In the meantime you could copy text to word to spell check before publishing. Thanks for continuing the dicussion.
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Permalink Reply by Sonia on
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I couldn't have put it any better, to Kris Schultz. I think that by posting what I am about to write might be opening a can of worms but, I have to say something some of the things that are on here these discussions, people are having are truly sad and hurtful. I am only 24 yrs old. my father and mother brought me here when I was 1 My dad worked as a mechanic, we went to church on Sundays and somehow managed to send money to mexico to help support their moms. My dad was killed in a tragic accident we always thought my dad had life insurance, turns out the man responsible didn't take care of his equipment properly so he had to establish trust funds. Never had a clue we were illegal until I turned 16 when I couldn't take the culinary class, and couldn't apply for the summer job, I didn't understand my mom had a social...Didn't she? no it turns out it was a Tax I.d number I went to 4 different lawyers one of which tried to marry me. scary what if he turns me into these stories you read about women being mistreated! and they all suggested the same thing Marry! Or wait for the Dream act, losing all hope turned to false papers, what am I suppose to do? go to mexico this is my home. 18 I met my sons father who turned out to be the worst! A true lack of judgement. He is white who refused to work as anything but construction, everything else was beneath him and as he would say these jobs are for "wetbacks". He was fired and we went through hard times we had to on occasion pan handle and he sold most of my jewelry including my engagement ring to get some food. When he left me I was already 3 months pregnant so i didn't think about it I got to work till the day I went into Labor. I had complications and had to have a C section got to work within 2 weeks after my sons birth had to work, and work hard in anything I could find. I am a cashier/waitress in a small Mexican restaurant and clean houses on my two days off, which by the way both include toilets, one includes changing diapers of a 92 yr old man who weighs 200 and some pds. My boss (restaurant) often takes advantage knowing I can't quit and he shaves at least 2 hours a week of my paycheck. What am I suppose to do??? I wasn't asked to come here but I am thankful and optimistic one day it will change for me.
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Permalink Reply by PAMELA STAUDT on
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Beautifully put Kris! Just because we were born here, doesn't mean that our ancestors didn't jump through hoops to become citizens or sacrifice something to have liberty, justice and freedom. It kills me to know that people can still be so ignorant to believe that the hispanic population are "stealing" precious jobs from Americans. And that they are criminals because they come over here and suffer ignorance and degredation just to feed, clothe and house families where they are from.
I have learned Spanish over the years and up until a couple of months ago spent 90% of my day speaking spanish. I have come to know many many hispanic couples and families who are NOT criminals, who are NOT trouble makers, and who ARE hard working, bill paying, good people who care about their children's health and education.
I have also fallen in love with a man who has fallen victim to our broken immigration reform. Due to an incident upon entering our country he was deported back to his country of Honduras and it has been a year apart from him working to get him back to no avail. We have hope, but it's very discouraging at times to have to wait so long.
Thank you for your open minded outlook on this issue and the neighbors to the south of us that are so misunderstood.
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