Thread: IMMIGRATION LAWS BECOME A PRIORITY

IMMIGRATION LAWS BECOME A PRIORITY

Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)
November 14, 2009
WASHINGTON, D.C.

The government has beefed up border security and workplace immigration enforcement, and now the work of overhauling immigration laws should begin, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Friday.

"The hope is that when we get into the first part of 2010, that we will see legislation begin to move," Napolitano said. The legislation should not only give law enforcement officials more tools to fight illegal immigration but create a "tough pathway" for undocumented workers to gain legal status, she said.

Napolitano said the government's progress in shoring up the border with Mexico and enforcing laws at the workplace meant that more Americans and more lawmakers would support an overhaul of laws than during the last effort, in 2007.

"I've been dealing hands-on with immigration issues since 1993, so, trust me, I know a major shift when I see one. And what I have seen makes reform far more attainable," Napolitano told the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington.

She said the "tough pathway" to earning legal status would require illegal immigrants to meet several tests, such as registering, paying a fine, passing a criminal background check, paying all taxes and learning English.

Critics responded that immigration reform is code for a blanket amnesty, and that the strides Napolitano cited in enforcement were overstated.

They also said that economic turbulence, with 10.2 percent unemployment, meant the timing was bad for an effort to legalize undocumented workers.

"The substance of her case is divorced from the reality of America's economy today," said Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which opposes creating a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. "The arguments against amnesty are far stronger today than they were in 2007. You have a much tighter job market."

An estimated 12 million illegal immigrants live in the United States.

Napolitano pointed to improved border security as the strongest argument for immigration reform's better chances. Since 2007, more than 600 miles of border fence have been built in the Southwest, and there are now more than 20,000 patrol officers guarding the nation's southern boundary, she said.

But she said a pathway to legal status was important, too. "We will never have fully effective law enforcement or national security as long as so many millions remain in the shadows," she said.

Despite Napolitano's optimism about passing reform next year, the 2010 congressional elections remain an obstacle.

"Congress does not want to debate amnesty during an election year," said Jon Feerie, a legal policy analyst at the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors "low-immigration" policies. "The year after that, Obama is looking at re-election himself, and he's not going to want to make immigration an issue."

John Vinson, president of the American Immigration Control Foundation, which advocates tough immigration laws, said that "the American people are not sympathetic to people who break laws."

But others said that immigration had proven to be ineffective as a wedge issue in elections.

Ben Johnson, executive director of the American Immigration Council, said, "Candidates who stand up for rational, comprehensive solutions to this complex problem don't lose races."

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She said the "tough pathway" to earning legal status would require illegal immigrants to meet several tests, such as registering, paying a fine, passing a criminal background check, paying all taxes and learning English.

So this is actually stealthy amnesty. The illegals get to stay here and earn a living on the backs of taxpayers who are losing their jobs daily, not only to illegals, but see jobs going overseas, or legal labor being imported.
And they are deluding themselves that all illegals want citizenship (pay taxes, are you kidding?) And they are also delusional if they think that there are only 12 million illegals here. Spouting statistics based on a guess does not convince me that they have any idea of what the hell they are talking about. They only know they need more voters by any means possible.

I can’t count how many stories I’ve heard in the news about illegals getting caught only to fine that they have been in the country over 20 years. If amnesty and citizenship is so important to them why didn’t they apply for it in 1986?

Sounds like more Lib propaganda to me.

It seems that the Dems are on a suicide mission with their political agenda. Ram through as much and as many pet projects and legislation as they can despite the consequences.

If you look at it they have the House, Senate, and the White House, as they see it this maybe the only chance they may get. Political suicide maybe the only way they see to get their agenda into Law. Once it;s done you never see or hear much about legislation being repealed. Your stuck with it good bad or otherwise.

Blah Blah Blah...we hear the same old rehtoric, propaganda bull crap all the time, the name throw etc.....we don't believe this crap any longer, these people believe in the rule of law when it suits them, not to mention the consitution.

quit speading your crap we are not letting it affect us any longer...

you are an aider and abetter and should go to jail, according to the laws!

The government has beefed up border security and workplace immigration enforcement,

If this was actually true, there would not be enough illegal aliens here to bother pushing amnesty for!!

Bunch of damn bald faced lying traitors.