I am a friend of immigration reform. I believe in the goodness of immigration and of the wealth that other cultures have brought to our great land and will continue to bring to it in the future. I also believe the best way to preserve the America we love is to let it be a land of liberty to all the world and to welcome with open arms all the good brothers and sisters of the human race our country can support.
I believe also that the future of America’s potential lies, in large part, on the issue of immigration reform. It is a fact that Americans are not keeping up with many parts of the world in education, engineering and the sciences. Immigration reform should make it much easier and inviting for educated, capable individuals to find their way to the United States to help carry us forward into the future. Both Alan Greenspan in the Age of Turbulence and Thomas Friedman in The World is Flat stress this obvious point: America will be unable to compete in the global economy unless immigration laws are reformed.
Additionally, besides the higher knowledge based jobs we are struggling to fill with home grown talent, our economy has a great need for low skilled labor – whether it be in the fields, kitchens, manufacturing or hospitality – there is a real need for all kinds of labor and jobs that many illegal aliens now fill. If there were not a need, there would not be a person filling that job.
My heart goes out to those good individuals who are here now but who cannot receive the protection of the laws of the land because they are not citizens of it. My heart goes out to their children because they will grow up in a country who has used their families, but not welcomed them. My heart goes out to the mothers and fathers who, to feed their families, have chosen to live under different names and under the constant threat of prosecution. Maintaining the status quo or imposing even harsher immigration laws and penalties is a recipe for economic, social and political turmoil - not to mention the decline of American influence in the world and our own standard of living.
Even our founding fathers knew the importance of immigration – and immigration “reform” in their own day. For on July 4th, 1776, the unanimous voice of congress assembled declared that King George had “endeavored to prevent the population of these states [by] obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; [and refused] to pass others to encourage their migrations hither…”
Congress has become the King George this time and it is up to you and I to stand by America and urge our representatives in 2010 to encourage the legal population of these states, broaden our laws for Naturalization of Foreigners and pass laws that encourage immigration to our great country. This reform will level the playing field between those who are here legally and those who weren’t, will allow the law to be applied to all equally, and will bring about the natural shift in the labor balance that is needed and long overdue.
I believe also that the future of America’s potential lies, in large part, on the issue of immigration reform. It is a fact that Americans are not keeping up with many parts of the world in education, engineering and the sciences. Immigration reform should make it much easier and inviting for educated, capable individuals to find their way to the United States to help carry us forward into the future. Both Alan Greenspan in the Age of Turbulence and Thomas Friedman in The World is Flat stress this obvious point: America will be unable to compete in the global economy unless immigration laws are reformed.
Additionally, besides the higher knowledge based jobs we are struggling to fill with home grown talent, our economy has a great need for low skilled labor – whether it be in the fields, kitchens, manufacturing or hospitality – there is a real need for all kinds of labor and jobs that many illegal aliens now fill. If there were not a need, there would not be a person filling that job.
My heart goes out to those good individuals who are here now but who cannot receive the protection of the laws of the land because they are not citizens of it. My heart goes out to their children because they will grow up in a country who has used their families, but not welcomed them. My heart goes out to the mothers and fathers who, to feed their families, have chosen to live under different names and under the constant threat of prosecution. Maintaining the status quo or imposing even harsher immigration laws and penalties is a recipe for economic, social and political turmoil - not to mention the decline of American influence in the world and our own standard of living.
Even our founding fathers knew the importance of immigration – and immigration “reform” in their own day. For on July 4th, 1776, the unanimous voice of congress assembled declared that King George had “endeavored to prevent the population of these states [by] obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; [and refused] to pass others to encourage their migrations hither…”
Congress has become the King George this time and it is up to you and I to stand by America and urge our representatives in 2010 to encourage the legal population of these states, broaden our laws for Naturalization of Foreigners and pass laws that encourage immigration to our great country. This reform will level the playing field between those who are here legally and those who weren’t, will allow the law to be applied to all equally, and will bring about the natural shift in the labor balance that is needed and long overdue.
2 comments:
So should we encourage low skill immigration or high skill immigration? Should there be a standard applied to all immigrants entering the country? It seems that quotas are important, as well as health and background. However if you want to incentivise certain types of immigrants it may be difficult to apply an equal standard.
Any thoughts?
Hey there Jeremy -
I don't think we need to encourage low skill immigration. The natural balance in the labor market seems to be supplying us with enough - just not legally. Last year we gave 375 employer preference visas and about 74,000 family type Visas to people from Mexico while about 140,000 came illegally because they couldn't get the needed Visas. That is just from that one country. The maximum number of permanent residency cards allowed to Mexico for people without a bachelor's degree is about 700 per year. The total amount for the entire world is 10,000 annually and no country can have more than 7%. Can you believe that? We have over half a million people coming to American illegally every year and Congress thinks that 10,000 should cut it. I would also venture to say that most of them are unskilled. Something has to change. Quotas are certainly important and I support them. They need to make sense though and support the balance of the labor needs of the country.
Regarding skilled labor, it is the same. We need to change from a mentality of "allowing" them to come here to one of allowing and looking for good people to come here. We need to encourage immigration of this kind. We can do this by allowing people within a certain job class that we really need in America (such as Engineers, Scientists, Physicists, etc.) to not have to go through all of the same hurdles as those who really could be taking jobs away from Americans.
Those are my thoughts. What do you think?
Ken