U.S. Requires Comprehensive Immigration Reform - 0 views

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  #1 Rivera Thorpe on 30 May 13

   

  The immigration question is once more dominating the news as members of Congress concentrate on the long-neglected issue of correcting our country's failed immigration laws.
  
  American lawmakers are actually in a critical point. Enforcement-only legislation will not work and has not worked. Past efforts to solve this problem by focusing exclusively on border protection have failed miserably.
  
  In fact, during the past decade, the U.S. tripled the number of agents on the edge, quintupled the budget, toughened our enforcement strategies and heavily fortified downtown access points.
  
  Yet throughout the same period of time, America found record quantities of illegal immigration, porous borders, a cottage industry made for smugglers and record forgers and tragic deaths in our deserts.
  
  We ought to learn from our mistakes, maybe not repeat them. What we truly need is comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform that deals smartly with the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living and working in the U.S.
  
  Nearly all are relatives of U.S. citizens and legal residents o-r employees holding jobs that Americans don't want. People already here who are not a threat to your protection, but who work hard, pay taxes and are learning English, should be allowed to earn permanent residence.
  
  Orderly Immigration Act and the Safe America, introduced by Sen. David McCain, R-Ariz., Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and others, provides the basis for correcting our system and contains the necessary aspects of reform. It combines strength with equity, making a new temporary visa program that delivers a legal movement of workers.
  
  That "break-the-mold" worker program would significantly reduce illegal immigration by creating a legal method for individuals to enter the U.S., something which rarely exists today. Present immigration regulations present 66,000 temporary visas for essential lesser-skilled workers and just 5,000 annual permanent visas, in no way meeting the annual need for 500,000 such workers. immigration reform congress site
  
  Furthermore, reducing the decade-long back-log in family-based immigration would reunite families faster and ensure it is unlikely that people would cross the border illegally in order to be with their loved ones.
  
  Congress and the management must act wisely as they consider their options. We have had enough "quick fixes" that have produced an already unworkable process worse. We can't manage our borders -; or improve our national safety -; until we enact comprehensive immigration reform.
  
  Deborah Notkin is president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. - NU

   

  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">The immigration question is once more dominating the news as members of Congress concentrate on the long-neglected issue of correcting our country's failed immigration laws. <br /> <br /> American lawmakers are actually in a critical point. Enforcement-only legislation will not work and has not worked. Past efforts to solve this problem by focusing exclusively on border protection have failed miserably. <br /> <br /> In fact, during the past decade, the U.S. tripled the number of agents on the edge, quintupled the budget, toughened our enforcement strategies and heavily fortified downtown access points. <br /> <br /> Yet throughout the same period of time, America found record quantities of illegal immigration, porous borders, a cottage industry made for smugglers and record forgers and tragic deaths in our deserts. <br /> <br /> We ought to learn from our mistakes, maybe not repeat them. What we truly need is comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform that deals smartly with the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living and working in the U.S. <br /> <br /> Nearly all are relatives of U.S. citizens and legal residents o-r employees holding jobs that Americans don't want. People already here who are not a threat to your protection, but who work hard, pay taxes and are learning English, should be allowed to earn permanent residence. <br /> <br /> Orderly Immigration Act and the Safe America, introduced by Sen. David McCain, R-Ariz., Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and others, provides the basis for correcting our system and contains the necessary aspects of reform. It combines strength with equity, making a new temporary visa program that delivers a legal movement of workers. <br /> <br /> That "break-the-mold" worker program would significantly reduce illegal immigration by creating a legal method for individuals to enter the U.S., something which rarely exists today. Present immigration regulations present 66,000 temporary visas for essential lesser-skilled workers and just 5,000 annual permanent visas, in no way meeting the annual need for 500,000 such workers. <a href="http://sinema.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/sinema-releases-statement-on-senate-immigration-bill" rel="nofollow">immigration reform congress site</a> <br /> <br /> Furthermore, reducing the decade-long back-log in family-based immigration would reunite families faster and ensure it is unlikely that people would cross the border illegally in order to be with their loved ones. <br /> <br /> Congress and the management must act wisely as they consider their options. We have had enough "quick fixes" that have produced an already unworkable process worse. We can't manage our borders -; or improve our national safety -; until we enact comprehensive immigration reform. <br /> <br /> Deborah Notkin is president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. - NU</div>

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