The need to bring illegal immigrants out of hiding and end the defacto amnesty that is the status quo is more important than ever in this post-9/11 era of terrorist threat. But this effort must never entail giving away citizenship to those who have broken our laws. Rather it should require those who voluntarily come forward to undertake the hard work of reparation and assimilation that we expect.
Legitimate status must be earned by paying stiff fines and back taxes, undergoing criminal and security checks, passing English and civics tests, remaining employed for six years before going to the back of the line to achieve legal permanent residence status, and adhering to other strict requirements.
Such a program is necessary if we are to protect our country from terrorism and crime by enabling the Department of Homeland Security and law enforcement to focus their resources more effectively where they are most needed, and that is on those who choose to remain hidden because they mean to do us harm.
For the full Union Leader.com piece on John McCain's statement on immigration click HERE.
3 comments:
thank you so much, you have no idea how much this means to me. god bless all of you. I'll see you guys on the news tonight!
Interesting. "back taxes"? Everyone pays taxes not just citizens and legal residents.
"going to the back of the line"? Would the person wait otherside the US? Otherwise, if the person "waits" on US soil, he has a defacto legal status. The "green card" becomes merely a formality and therefore meaningless.
Get real.
The point behind an earned legalization program is to get the undocumented to come out of the shadows so we can focus on the real criminals and terrorists.
Requiring the undocumented to leave the country and wait abroad for years before they can return does not add up to much of an incentive. Sure it sounds tough in quickly typed blog comment, but what does it do to really solve the problem before us?
Undocumented immigrants are here because our gov't looked the other way for years. We need to embrace the undocumented workers that are here and separate them from the minority of criminals and wasters among them. The best way to do that is to encourage the good people to come forward. On the carrot-stick spectrum, your proposal for getting them to come forward(that they leave and wait for a decade) is near the baseball bat with sharp rusty nails stickin' out level.
Give the undocumented immigrants a chance to earn their way to legal status with fines, background checks and English lessons.
Lord knows, if anyone can teach us lessons about the English, the Irish can.
Post a Comment