Thread: Group plans to lobby for immigration reform

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Group plans to lobby for immigration reform
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By Candice Brooks


Staff Writer

HAMILTON — Butler County Commissioner Michael Fox, a vocal part of the local debate on immigration reform, has formed a coalition that will call on the local congressional delegation to step up and fix the illegal immigration problem.

Fix It Now — comprised of unions, building contractors, businesses, nonprofit organizations, representatives of the Hispanic community, and Republican and Democratic political leaders — began developing about a month ago to expand the coalition and outline a plan of action to motivate Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill. The grassroots group will unveil its action steps in a news conference at 11 a.m. Thursday at the Carpenters and Milwrights Training Center, 361 Breaden Drive, in Monroe.

“The primary purpose of the coalition was to try to demonstrate that reasonable people can come together from different points of view to do something that Congress has been unable or unwilling to do — come up with a set of four principles that should guide a U.S. immigration reform bill,” Fox said. “The fact that they are heading for vacation rather than dealing with this is a sad statement of affairs.”

The coalition’s four focuses in reform are to: secure the country’s borders; create a program for immigrants already in the country to register and gain a pathway to citizenship; establish a guest worker program like the one President George W. Bush proposed to provide immigrants full labor rights; and hold employers accountable to labor laws.

Mark Galea, organizing director for the Ohio and Vicinity Regional Council of Carpenters, said those four points have always been the union’s stance because it’s “the right thing to do.” Enforcing the law against employers eliminates their unfair advantage over other businesses and discourages mistreatment of immigrant workers, he said.

“I believe that it’s going to take a broad-based group to begin to get Congress to enter into some dialogue,” Galea said. “Spending the million of dollars it takes to build a wall is not going to fix the problem. There are 12 million people in this country and we don’t know who they are. Undocumented workers need to come forward to be documented. Some people call it amnesty; I call it securing the border all the same.”

Fox said he hopes the coalition will be able to bridge the gap between those on the left and the right of the immigration issue. Enforcing immigration laws and securing the border is a matter of national security, but rounding up millions of illegal immigrants also carries a price, he said.

“You cannot make 12 million people felons,” Fox said. “The cost to the taxpayers would be hundreds of millions of dollars. By the end of the year, we will have paid $700,000 a year to incarcerate illegal aliens that we are holding in our jail.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2175 or cbrooks@coxohio.com.

Undocumented workers need to come forward to be documented. Some people call it amnesty; I call it securing the border all the same.”

I call it stupid.

All these special interests churning out the same old tripe gets old.
I still say seal the border, enforce laws and take away the cash magnet. They keep crying about cost of deporting. Nobody thinks 60 to 100 million working for cash or filing EIC while sucking up the social program goodies is going to be an immense cost?

four points have always been the union’s stance

No it hasn't. It's been La Raza's stance to

create a program for immigrants already in the country to register and gain a pathway to citizenship; establish a guest worker program like the one President George W. Bush proposed to provide immigrants full labor rights

I guess we can call this The La Raza Compromise.

“You cannot make 12 million people felons,”

OK, your right, that is most likely too few so we will make 22 million.

Dixie