This video shows the Democratic Debate, focusing on the immigration issue. Barack Obama is the main one shown answering a question about putting a fence on the Mexico border, if we should do the same on the Canadian border. I think he kind of tries to get out of the question, but in the end he gets his point across. I think it is interesting when asked if English should be the official language of the U.S. only one raises their hand. I believe that is important to understand and recognize different cultures and languages, but we cannot deny that all of America speaks English. It will be interesting to see different debates surrounding this immigration issue.
People who are against giving undocumented workers temporary work visas would say that they actually do nothing to contribute to the U.S. It has been argued that undocumented workers take away from jobs that legal citizens could do. Undocumented workers have been shown to take jobs away from other groups such as poor African Americans or poor Hispanic Americans. The undocumented workers compete with these groups for the jobs. From different studies, it has been shown that on average an illegal immigrant household costs Federal State and local taxpayers $4,867 per year. This is unfair to taxpayers to have their money go towards illegal immigrants. It has also been shown that many hospitals in California have been forced to close because illegal immigrants have come in for treatment when they have no form of health insurance and do not plan on paying the medical expenses. It can be said that the burden of illegal immigrants outweighs their contributions to the workforce and U.S. society. Illegal immigrants can also receive “free” services from the government, which is actually funded by citizen’s tax money. People who are con giving undocumented workers try to show that illegal immigrants’ costs outweigh their benefits.
I have realized that I never talked about the general pro/con feelings about this issue. People who are pro giving undocumented workers temporary work visas would say that they are helping our economy instead of hurting it. These people came into this country to make a better life for themselves and by turning them away we as Americans are sending a bad message out to the rest of the world. The United States is supposed to be the land of the free, and if we cannot let people come here to work then what are we saying about our society? I believe that for the undocumented workers already living in the country, the government should help them out, especially those who have been working and living in this country for an extended period of time. The system that we have right now for people to obtain work visas is flawed. There are not enough work visas available for people who want to come into this country and the process to obtain one takes way too long so immigrants are forced to come into the U.S. illegally. If we can think of a way to help these people get the visas faster and make more of the types of visas they need, then we could seriously reduce the problem of illegal immigrants coming into this country.
This cartoon shows a Mexican immigrant with a story behind him that shows the troubles of getting into this country. The other man is holding a sign that says “Go Home, Illegal” with a story behind him that says he woke up, found marker, made sign. This cartoon shows that Mexican immigrants who come into this country have to work very hard to get into it. They come here with nothing to try to make a better life for themselves and their families. I think that people who are so anti-immigrants do not realize that these people are just trying to have a better life. Most people do not realize that undocumented workers who come to this country usually do not take jobs away from the average American; rather they work jobs that most Americans will not take. I think that is important to look at each undocumented workers circumstance for being in this country instead of just sending them back to their country without a second thought. The illegal immigrants who are in this country are people just like everyone else and it is important to remember this. We need to help these people instead of only trying to hurt them.
According to the InmanBlog, if immigration reform does take place, small construction businesses might be in danger. Since many construction sites use undocumented workers, if immigration reform cracks down on employers using the undocumented workers, then many companies are at danger of losing profit and damaging the business. I believe when Congress thinks of legislation for immigration reform they need to keep in mind small business that would be affected by too harsh of immigration policy. Since so many small building businesses use the undocumented workers, Congress cannot ignore this fact. If they can think of a legislation that would run the middle road of changing the current immigration policy while giving undocumented workers some rights so they can still work in the places that really need them. We cannot pretend like undocumented workers are not a vital part of many different business and if legislation does not realize this then many small business will probably be affected and maybe even put out of business.
According to the blog, “Migra Matters”, the Democrats released their immigration plan. However, it is not really a plan but rather it just says what the Republicans did wrong in the Bush Administration. With an immigration “plan” like this, I think that the Democrats are trying to ignore one of the biggest problems that are facing our country today. If a Democratic candidate wants to win the nomination for President, then they are going to have to make a better immigration plan. I think that they decided to release this plan because they felt pressured since Romney and Huckabee have both proposed something on the immigration issue. Before the election I think the Democrats will think of a better immigration plan but they need to do so soon in order to get the votes that they really need.
Mitt Romney, another Republican Party Presidential Candidate, has been shown to be a hypocrite in his own stance on illegal immigration. On paper, Romney is against illegal immigrants working and living in this country, but it has been discovered that he employees illegal immigrants to tend to his yard. I found this source on Hat City Blog. I think that if you are a potential Presidential candidate, then you need to practice what you preach. One of the big problems that faces this country today about the immigration issue is employers are still hiring undocumented workers. If we really want to reform immigration in this country, then we need to look at the employers first to make sure they do not hire the undocumented workers. If one of the Presidential nominees is using the undocumented workers, then I think it shows our system is flawed and it needs to be fixed. No Presidential candidate can tell average Americans not to use undocumented workers while they themselves employ the illegal immigrants. I hope that whoever the next President is in 2008 is able to practice what he or she advocates.
This cartoon shows military men coming into a country with the word, “Invasion”, underneath it. The second picture shows Mexican immigrants coming into Texas, which is crossed out and “Aztlan”, which is the birthplace of Aztec people in that culture. The caption under the second picture says “Immivasion”. I think this cartoon is very harsh and does not accurately show immigration in this country. Although thousands of illegal immigrants come into this country, I do not believe they are “taking over” in any sense. Yes, they do work in American jobs, but most of the time they are jobs that no American wants to take so we actually benefit from the immigrants being here. For all the illegal immigrants coming into this country, there are legal immigrants also coming that work and contribute to the U.S. legally. I think this is an important fact to remember when dealing with the immigration issue in the United States today. It is not as bad as this cartoon is making it out to be.
According to the blog, “Poll: GOP Driving Hispanics Away With Anti-Immigration Push”, the anti-immigration stance the Republican Party candidates are now taking, is causing them to fall behind in the polls. This blog focuses on how the new immigration proposals by the Republican candidates are causing the party to lose overall points in polls directed at Hispanic voters. In this upcoming election, the Hispanic vote is going to be crucial because of their demographic area. This blog shows that because of the high percentage of Hispanics living in key states; if the Republican Party does not change their immigration stance then they will lose many votes. I think it is important for the Republican candidates to take more of a middle ground when dealing with the immigration issue. This is something that needs to be addressed with the new president, and if the Republicans do not take a more centered approach to the issue then they will not get their candidate into office. Whoever the next president will be is going to have to make a huge immigration reform bill in order to keep millions of Americans happy.
Today, Republican Mike Huckabee, contender for presidential nomination, proposed a new immigration plan that has 9 points. The 9 points can be found on this blog. I thought that this new plan is very interesting because Huckabee proposes a very strict system. I do not think the Democrats in Congress will go for this plan. I also think it will be hard to execute the plan because there are so many little details that Huckabee is proposing. For instance, one of his proposals is to impose penalties on civilians who use their dual citizenship illegally. Although this is good in theory I think it will be very hard to execute since there are so many citizens living in the United States from all different countries. If Huckabee can work will Democrats in Congress (since he is extremely conservative) I think a new plan could be made that would really work in our cultural today.
