Immigration bill had little local support
Jacksonville Business Journal - 11:22 AM EDT Monday, June 11, 2007

The immigration bill that foundered in the U.S. Senate last week had even less support locally.

That's according to the Business Journal's latest online survey, which found that more than three quarters of respondents opposed the bill. Readers were asked: Should Congress and the President pass the immigration bill currently being debated?


Seventy-six percent of the 328 respondents said no, with only 24 percent supporting the bill. Though it could be revived, the bill died last week when supporters could not get enough votes in the Senate to end debate and bring it to a vote.

The question drew some emphatic responses from readers, one of whom quoted Teddy Roosevelt. Opponents of the bill stressed the unfairness of giving amnesty to illegal aliens.

"It pardons the immigrants who have ignored the system while penalizing those working within it," wrote one reader.

Several readers had a detailed understanding of the bill, with references to enforcement, Z-visas and the portion of the bill regarding back taxes.

"If being an illegal alien means you only have to pay taxes three out of five years, I want to be illegal," wrote one opponent.

The few supporters of the bill emphasized the employment angle.

"With unemployment at historical lows at 4.5 percent, we need all the labor we can get in order not to stall our own economic growth. Immigration is the tide that raises all boats."

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