This is quite likely one of the most insulting libidiot, IA huger jackasses I've read in a while. Furthermore, he makes borad, sweeping statements as though they are fact without backing them up with any sources:

The immigrants they scorn
Feb. 13, 2008 12:00 AM

While some presidential candidates try to score political points by playing into apprehension about immigration, the immigrants they vilify are busy sustaining the American economy.

Immigrants play a crucial role in our nation's academic, medical and high-tech sectors. Almost 25 percent of doctors and 40 percent of registered nurses in this country are foreign-born, as are more than 30 percent of those conducting advanced science and engineering research at U.S. universities. In addition to meeting our skilled-labor needs, immigrants hold more than a third of our nation's agriculture, maintenance, meat- and poultry-processing and construction jobs.

The U.S. Department of Labor reports that our economy will need 2 million new low-skilled laborers annually during the next 20 years, and Americans will only be able to fill 25 percent of that demand. These are often low-paying, physically demanding jobs that are not wanted by our citizens, but are essential to the economic growth that provides better jobs and living standards for all Americans.

Pressure is building to extend the existing employment-visa programs, but we cannot build toward the future without addressing the situation of the millions of undocumented workers on which our economy already relies. In addition to expanding programs to bring in new workers, an effective immigration-reform package must provide employment authorization for those who can show that they are currently employed in the United States and pass a national security and criminal background check.

A work-authorization program of this type would address our national-security needs by bringing undocumented immigrants out of the shadows and into national databases. It would be a tool for economic growth, allowing businesses access to immigrant labor, both skilled and unskilled, and the opportunity for stable employment relationships. Paired with enhanced border enforcement, it would bring sanity to our immigration policy by channeling immigrants into the formal economy, where their wages are taxed, their rights are enforced and their compliance with program mandates can be monitored.

Despite the rhetoric on the campaign trail, recent public-opinion polls demonstrate that a majority of Americans support allowing undocumented immigrants who have worked in this country for several years, and have no criminal record, to apply for legal status. Arizonans would benefit more than most from such a program. We know immigrants not as the subjects of negative campaign ads, but as our neighbors, professors, housekeepers and cousins. Their American dreams fuel our economy and enrich our communities.

It is time for Congress and the administration to take up immigration-policy reform from a fresh perspective. That so many people, with so much to offer, want to live and work in this country is a blessing, not a problem.

We must embrace this opportunity by expanding existing work visas for new immigrants and creating a work-authorization program to allow American businesses to legalize employment of the hard-working immigrants on which so many already rely.

The writer, a Democrat, represents Arizona's 4th District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... tor13.html