Thread: (US Sen. Ben) Nelson not optimistic about immigration reform

I checked, but if this is a dup, please delete. Let's not get complacent!
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The Grand Island Independent
Nelson not optimistic about immigration reform
By Robert Pore
robert.pore @theindependent.com
Published: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 7:41 PM CDT

U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said he's not optimistic about passing comprehensive immigration reform this year.

"I think it will be very difficult to get anything done that is overarching on immigration reform any time soon," Nelson said on Wednesday during a telephone conference with Nebraska reporters.

On Saturday, more than 300 people gathered in Grand Island for an immigration rally. Similar events, such as one in Washington, D.C., attended by more than 200,000 people, took place across the country.

A main issue among people attending the rally in Grand Island was the lack of any provision in current immigration law addressing family unification.

For many at Saturday's rally, that's a key provision to any immigration reform as the impact of the immigration raids at the Swift plant on Dec. 12, 2006, remains vivid in the minds of many Grand Island families.

During that raid, 261 people were arrested for varying charges. But many of those arrested had families, and relatives said they had "extreme" difficulty getting information about their loved ones who were arrested.

A study by the Urban Institute after the Swift raids, blamed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for how parents were separated from their children. It called for clear guidelines for releasing arrested parents to minimize harm to their kids.

At Saturday's rally, there were also calls for President Obama, who campaigned on immigration reform, to issue an executive order halting all deportations of those violating U.S. immigration laws until Congress deals with immigration reform.

Along with the lack of immigration officials to deal with requests of people wanting to be U.S. citizens, critics of current immigration law said immigration quotas are tilted toward skilled immigrants versus unskilled ones. But the demand for unskilled labor and the low number of green cards the United States issues to unskilled immigrants have caused many to come illegally.

While Nelson said he is sympathetic to the calls for reforming immigration law and dealing with the issue of family unification, he believes securing U.S. borders is a higher priority.

"We have to start with security at the border," he said. "It is also a national security issue."

Nelson is concerned about illegal drugs coming into the United States and the violence associated with them.

"Illegal as it is, it is a growing business, and it is a scourge we have to deal with," Nelson said. "Whatever we do in terms of dealing with illegal immigration, if we don't focus first on how we stop the cartels from planting seeds in the United States to grow their business, then our problems are small today compared to what they are going to be if that happens."

But because of the contentiousness of the health care debate, Nelson said, addressing immigration reform this year will be difficult.

"There is doubt in my mind that comprehensive legislation may be a thing of the past, at least for the short-term future, because anything that is comprehensive is going to have to have a lot of moving parts, a lot of complexities to it, and what I found is that moving parts and complexities in legislation attract more opponents than proponents," he said.

Becky Gould, executive director of Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest, said immigration reform is needed now and it's a "key issue that underpins our economic and community well-being."

"We can't build a strong economic recovery on top of a teetering immigration system," Gould said. "Many of us live in communities currently being divided by an outdated system. We can't bear to continue watching a system operating in our name that separates families, tears children from parents and denies due process of law."

Gould said the country needs "immigration laws we can stand behind and that live up to our nation's traditions and values."

"We need a workable system that moves us forward together," she said. "It defies logic to refuse to update the immigration system so that it matches today's needs and realities."

http://theindependent.com/articles/2010 ... 624462.txt

"It defies logic to refuse to update the immigration system so that it matches today's needs and realities."

Yes! Today's needs and realities call for more stricter enforcement, less immigration and a more secure border! NOT Amnesty!

Priceless! We have to cease and desist upholding our laws because "they" don't like them. Why is this country allowing them to get away with even demanding something like this? We are supposed to be a strong country, but it seems that that was just a facade and they are seeing right through it.
If any version of amnesty passes, I shall be moving to Antarctica.