The Senate Judiciary Committee's Field Hearing was called in response to the House decision to stall and delay real progress on immigration reform by holding sham summer hearings that some have called a dog and pony show.
New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg testified, "we need to get real about the people who are now living in this country illegally - in many cases raising families and paying taxes. The idea of deporting these 11 or 12 million people - about as many as live in the entire state of Pennsylvania - is pure fantasy. Even if we wanted to, it would be physically impossible to carry out. If we attempted it - and it would be perhaps the largest round-up and deportation in world history - the social and economic consequences would be devastating."
The Irish presence was felt during the Senate hearing. There were several references to the numerous green-lettered white "Legalize the Irish" tee shirts throughout the audience. The message was clear. The Irish want comprehensive immigration reform legislation passed this year.
Meanwhile, President Bush said, "I'm strongly for comprehensive immigration policy," during a visit to a Dunkin Donuts in Alexandria, Virginia.
6 comments:
Give it up, Sean. Your hoaxing of 'Nina' and biased posts amount to a cruel taunting of the illegals.
And could you remind everyone why you are so adamant on immigration reform? Are you a crusader for justice? If so, why have you carelessly overlooked the injustices within the US? Housing? Health? Education? Taxation? Where have you campaigned on those issues?
N.B. Your editorializing by setting comment moderation 'on' makes you a chickenshit blogger.
Anonymous,
Thanks for the post.
To remindd everyone, I support comprehensive immigration reform because this country (MY country) would benefit by giving the Irish and other hardworking, law-abiding, family-raising undocumented immigrants the opportunity to earn legal status and remain here.
I am not a 'crusader for justice.' I'm just a guy who supports comprehensive immigration reform.
I haven't "carelessly overlooked" other problems and issues. I just happen to live in a community where the need for comprehensive immigration reform seems more immediate than other issues.
If you are genuinely concerned about all the social problems you mentioned, why waste your time on this site leaving anonymous negative posts?
The USA is also my native country. Does that bit of trivia put us on equal footing?
Name some benefits you purport accrue to America from illegals.
Here are some detriments:
* repression of wages
* evasion of tax (both corporate and individual)
* human explotation
* burdening K-12 education services
* sapping overstretched ER facilities
* excessive costs for border control
Rules are ideas and principles which have been adopted by people to create a civil unit. Bending, breaking, and ignoring the rules that govern an entity is to violate all those within it.
Sorry to hear you consider being an American trivial. I do not.
Neither do to those undocumented who have struggled to make a life here in America.
All they seek is a fair chance to prove their worth. They want to pay the fines and back taxes. They want to go through a criminal background check. They are willing to go to the back of whatever line there may be and do whatever it might take to stay here legally.
The rules are laws written by elected legislators who pass new laws all the time to deal with changes and differing circumstances facing our nation.
The rules concerning immigration are simply not working and need to be changed. We need comprehensive immigration reform to secure our border and provide a path to earned legalized status for those who have already invested so much in our country.
What is so terribly wrong with giving the undocumented that are already here a chance to show us they are worthy of the legalized status they seek?
The benefits I see are not the broad sweeping and unsupported economical soundbites you mentioned. I see more immediate local benefits. I see my predominantly Irish and Irish-American neighborhood retaining the people who make it so wonderful.
I see the local Catholic school continuing to throve as others around the country struggle, because many Irish prefer to school their children privately.
I see an opportunity to increase our tax rolls by legalizing the undocumented and putting them on the books.
I see a chance to stop employer exploitation by removing the cloud over an undocumented worker's head.
I see a chance to allow immigration enforcement officials to focus their efforts on border security and rounding up criminal elements in the immigrant community rather than waste their time running down hardworking family people.
I think this country benefits by legalizing the Irish who instead of living a comfortable life in Ireland, exercised the type of ambition and drive tht America is built on by coming here and working hard to make a life for themselves.
Well said Sean.
sean;
By you comment "I see an opportunity to increase our tax rolls by legalizing the undocumented and putting them on the books.", are you implying illegal immigrants don't pay taxes?
Post a Comment