Thread: Immigration policy is a federal job

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Immigration policy is a federal job
Your voice: Charleston C.K. Wang
The issue of what to do about "illegal immigrants" is once again a hot political topic. Should our elected officials in Butler County rush forward with their manhunt and rouse the vigilance of the citizenry or even compel the cooperation of local employers? This zealous political effort has raised concern that it is misdirected at the entire Hispanic population, only a few undocumented, and many of whom, together with other immigrants, are working to make our region a better place for all.

Perhaps it is humbling for us all to reflect on that legendary gathering almost 400 years ago when a family of hungry Puritans was invited to dinner by their compassionate Native American neighbors. From the time of the Puritans these shores were an open haven for anyone with fortitude to cross the stormy Atlantic. In 1795, Congress passed the Naturalization Act, which conferred American citizenship to "free white persons" who had been present for five years. Only after the Civil War in 1868 was the Constitution amended to allow both white and black people to become citizens.Yet in 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed to bar immigrants from across the Pacific.

In 2006, descendents of earlier immigrants take issue with today's illegal immigrants - persons who like the Puritans come to America in search of a better life for their families, but who flaunt the immigration law. Activists contend that America has lost control of her borders and that federal authorities are failing to enforce the law.

Congress has always regulated immigration. State and local governments have little basis to make immigration policy. The time-tested approach is to have a comprehensive set of federal immigration laws uniformly enforced.

In January 2004, President Bush proposed an immigration reform popularly called the Guest Worker Statute, which Congress is considering. When introducing the bill, Bush noted: "And over the generations we have received energetic, ambitious, optimistic people from every part of the world. By tradition and conviction, our country is a welcoming society."

America is built by the brawn and brain of all who sought a better life for themselves and their families.

Charleston C.K. Wang, a local attorney practicing immigration law, chairs the Public Policy & Issues Committee of the National Conference for Community and Justice of Greater Cincinnati, a human relations organization dedicated to fighting bias, bigotry and racism.

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He compares the invasion to our little group of Pilgrims?

We have to be smarter than those indians were.