The Second Half

Immigration / Immigracion / La Migra

Its about to heat up in the House and Senate again with the general consensus being that if something isn't done by August, it won't get done until after the 2008 election.

There is one thing that President Bush and I agree on, and that is that there must be an empathetic approach to immigration. Rep. John Kyl can go pound sand as far as I'm concerned. If you never saw the Kyl/Cornyn draft then you are lucky. It was a "We're white and we were here first" perspective that made me sick.

Since we are all descendents of other countries (except of course our Native American neighbors), it seems as though some of our conservative lawmakers have forgotten that we/they came here for opportunity, and bullied primitive cultures into submission for their land. OK - so then how does that make us different or better than an underpriviledged person from Mexico or South America coming here for opportunity? I realize that every socio-economic factor has changed since the Pilgrims came to North America, but if I hear one more person refer to a hispanic illegal as a 'beaner', a 'wetback', or a 'spic' - then I think I'll come out of my skin.

Here's my view - take it , rip it up, or just plain leave it:

Look up the McCain/Kennedy bill This is a pretty good example of what a bi-partisan bill can look like. I believe that we have to secure the border. I believe that the illegal aliens that are here, should stay if they want to become US Citizens - and they should go if they don't. They should be given the opportunity to become US Citizens now. I believe that a guestworker program should be instituted to help feed line-level jobs in construction, hospitality, agriculture, BUT I also believe that these employers should shoulder the cost of benefits and state-funded services for these guest workers. Individual US taxpayers should not have to pay the cost of guestworker health and social service benefits.

Its crazy to think of how many other socio-economic issues this impacts. I just hope that our lawmakers exercise compassion when making such a huge decision.