Thread: Kennedy 'fashioned the modern day' immigration system

Kennedy 'fashioned the modern day' immigration system

By Kathy Kiely, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Sen. Edward Kennedy's first major legislative victory helped change the face of the country and shaped his own political career.
In 1965, Kennedy had been in the Senate less than three years. His party's leaders gave him the job of pushing a bill to eliminate the quota system that had made it virtually impossible for anyone from anywhere but western Europe to immigrate to the USA.

Eliminating national quotas for immigration had been the goal of every U.S. president since Harry Truman— including Kennedy's brother John F. Kennedy. That was probably one reason that "Ted seized the cause," in the words of his biographer, Adam Clymer. Passage marked "the first of many times Ted Kennedy fulfilled an unfinished dream of one of his brothers," Clymer wrote.

It was also the first of many times that Kennedy found himself at the forefront of an issue of a cause that he came to see as a personal crusade.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Barack Obama | John McCain | Edward Kennedy | John F. Kennedy | 21st century | Harry S. Truman | Adam Clymer

"From the windows of my office in Boston … I can see the Golden Stairs from Boston Harbor where all eight of my great-grandparents set foot on this great land for the first time," Kennedy told Senate colleagues in a 2007 speech. "That immigrant spirit of limitless possibility animates America even today."

Beginning with the 1965 bill, which opened the doors for the flood of Latin American and Asian immigrants who dramatically altered the nation's demography, to the end of his life, Kennedy remained the Senate's most impassioned advocate for widening opportunities for America's newcomers.

"He fashioned the modern-day legal system of immigration. He created humane refugee and asylum policies. And he has set the stage for a 21st century solution to the problem of illegal immigration," said Frank Sharry, an immigrant rights advocate who worked with Kennedy on legislation.

Among the immigration measures that Kennedy helped shape:

•A 1980 bill that established a system for refugee resettlement in the USA and nearly tripled the number of people who would qualify for admission.

•A 1986 bill that granted amnesty to an estimated 2.7 million people living illegally in the USA and established penalties against employers who hired illegal immigrants.

•A 1990 bill that revised the legal immigration system to allow for more immigrants and more high-skilled workers.

For all of his accomplishments, Sharry thinks Kennedy will be best known for the work he did with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on a bill that failed. The legislation would have put an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship and plugged holes in the employer sanctions system. It collapsed despite its powerful backers, including President Bush.

Sharry remains convinced that Kennedy "laid the groundwork" for a bill that eventually will pass. President Obama has made an immigration overhaul along the lines of the Kennedy-McCain bill one of his top legislative priorities.

On the day the bill failed in 2007, Kennedy himself predicted its backers would be vindicated. "We will be back and we will prevail," he said.
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OUR IMMIGRATION SYSTEM IS OUT OF CONTROL.

MILLIONS of illegal aliens are here, and more come every day.

Our cities are overrun with Mexican drug gang members

and the politicians want to reward their criminal actions by giving them citizenship.

mostly because of ol teddy. illegal alien pandering son of a rum runner. good riddance.

The Kennedy plan is to reward the criminal actions of MILLIONS of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.

The plan was backed by Obama, Bush, McCain, Clinton, Biden, Palin, etc.

And when the millions of law breakers get their citizenship each of them gets to sponsor their parents, siblings and kids to come here too.

When that new group gets their citizenship they too get to sponsor their parents, siblings and kids to come here.

It's called Chain Migration, and it never ends.

Ted Kennedy on Immigration

1965: "The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs."

1986: "This amnesty will give citizenship to only 1.1 to 1.3 million illegal aliens. We will secure the borders henceforth. We will never again bring forward another amnesty bill like this."

2007: "Now it is time for action. 2007 is the year we must fix our broken system."

Kennedy Shaped Modern-Day Immigration System

By BIANCA VAZQUEZ TONESS

Published August 27, 2009


BOSTON — Sen. Edward Kennedy’s first major legislative victory helped change the face of this country. In 1965, Kennedy sponsored the Immigration and Nationality Act, which lifted national quotas on immigrants entering the country. This victory also launched his political career advocating for the foreign-born.

Before 1965, it was nearly impossible for immigrants from anywhere besides Western Europe to come to the United States. Sen. Kennedy was in his early thirties and in office just a couple of years when he sponsored a bill that would change all that.

The legislation allowed “us to break away from the kind of discriminatory quotas that existed for decades,â€

Among the immigration measures that Kennedy helped shape:

•A 1980 bill that established a system for refugee resettlement in the USA and nearly tripled the number of people who would qualify for admission.

•A 1986 bill that granted amnesty to an estimated 2.7 million people living illegally in the USA and established penalties against employers who hired illegal immigrants. Yeah, we saw how well those "penalties" worked.

•A 1990 bill that revised the legal immigration system to allow for more immigrants and more high-skilled workers.

For all of his accomplishments, Sharry thinks Kennedy will be best known for the work he did with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on a bill that failed. The legislation would have put an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship and plugged holes in the employer sanctions system. Riiight like they were "sanctioned" after the 86 amnesty? PLEASE! Fooled us once, never again! It collapsed despite its powerful backers, including President Bush.

Sharry remains convinced that Kennedy "laid the groundwork" for a bill that eventually will pass. President Obama has made an immigration overhaul along the lines of the Kennedy-McCain bill one of his top legislative priorities.

The bill failed. Reform advocates are gearing up for another try in 2010. They say it will be harder without Kennedy, but the senator laid the groundwork

Indeed it did and we are gearing up to ensure it fails again!

He was the baby brother, thrown into greatness by just being a Kennedy.
It sounds just like GWB trying to trump Papa Bush, finishing his war, starting a few new ones.
Neither EMK or GWB ever wanted for anything except glory and power by the means that were laid at their feet. And thoughts of consequences for the American people were either not there or swarmed by political need to keep power.