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Legal Status for 12 Million Illegals Proposed

SA groups float 'Unity Blueprint" for immigration reform
By Jim Forsyth
Thursday, March 8, 2007
A coalition of some 150 Latino, labor, civil rights, and religious groups today unveiled what it calls the "Unity Blueprint" for Immigration Reform, calling for legal status for the estimated 12 million people currently living in the country illegal, huge increases in the number of new individuals admitted legally into the U.S. each year, and elimination of that proposed border wall, 1200 WOAI news learned today.



"This is a real solution to making sure that the 12 million individuals who are currently living in the shadows can step forward and continue to do what they are already doing...paying taxes, working hard, and making sure their families have a real opportunity to play a part in this country," said Lydia Camarillo of the Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project.



The Unity Blueprint will be unveiled next week on Capitol Hill, as Congress begins debating immigration reform for the first time under a Democratic majority, a majority which supporters of the Unity Blueprint say will be much more supportive of what they call 'a non punitive immigration policy.'



Adrian Rodriguez, National Vice President of the League of United Latin American Citizens, says even Americans who take a hard line on illegal immigration would support a program to make those immigrants legal residents.



"I've talked to people who say that they are against these people being here illegally, and they tell me that if they got some form of citizenship or documentation through a change in law, they would be okay with that," he told 1200 WOAI news.

Supporters say the vast majority of illegal immigrants are hard workers, and the United States will need that pool of workers in the future.



"Our aging baby boomers, who will be retired thoroughly in about twenty years, will need someone to take up that slack," Rodriguez said.

"We need a mechanism to fix the problem that we currently have, and bring people out of the shadows and into mainstream members so they are productive members of our society in every way."



The Unity Blueprint calls for 'rational and humane operational control of the borders' by prohibiting the U.S. of military force, including the National Guard, for border control, making 'enforcement of laws to prevent vigilantism a priority and monitoring vigilante activity,' prohibiting the Border Patrol from engaging in high speed chases and the use of deadly force, prohibit the so called 'expedited removal' of undocumented people found within 100 miles of the border, permit 'indigenous people' to cross the border at will, and set up an independent commission to 'monitor federal border practices and policies.'



It would also prohibit mass immigration raids at workplaces, mass deportations, and allow states to issue drivers licenses and other documents to undocumented immigrants. It would also end employer sanctions against companies that hire undocumented workers, and would actually cover undocumented workers under workplace anti discrimination laws.



Rosa Rosales, National President of LULAC, says current immigration laws actually encourage illegal immigration, by prohibiting people who have lived illegally in the U.S. for certain periods from applying for legal status for as long as ten years.



"No one is going to wait ten years, just because you were here for one year without papers," Rosales said. "The system right now has been a breeding ground for the undocumented worker to come into this country."



She says the current system encourages abuse of immigrant workers, separates families, and deprives the United States of workers who are needed in all phases of the economy.



"All we're asking is that the workers who come here as immigrants, that they also have full rights as American workers," Rosales said.