Both Sides Opinions on Proposed Immigration Bill!

Tweet

I know it is a lot to read, or pick out your favorite politican(s) and see how you feel about his views, it is IMPORTANT to our country to see what both sides are saying. Who do you agree/disagree with and why? Candidates Sound Off on Immigration During Debates. Debating immigration The following are excerpts from what some of the presidential candidates said about the Senate immigration bill during this week's debates in New Hampshire: REPUBLICANS Sen. John McCain of Arizona "America is still the land of opportunity, and it is a beacon of hope and liberty and, as Ronald Reagan said, a shining city on the hill and we're not going to erect barriers and fences. "If someone else has a better idea, I'd love to have them give it to us. "Look, this is a national security issue, first and foremost. Ever since 9/11, it's a national security issue. People came to Fort Dix, N.J., from across our southern border and tried to kill our soldiers. For us to do nothing is silent and de facto amnesty." Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney "The point is: Every illegal alien, almost every one, under this bill, gets to stay here. That's not fair to the millions and millions of people around the world that would love to come here, join with family members, bring skill and education that we need. "It's simply not fair to say those people get put ahead in the line of all the people who've been waiting legally to come to this country. "My view is that we should enforce our immigration laws. "The law passed in 1986 asked for us to secure the border and said also to put in place an employment verification system. Neither one of those was done. So let's make sure that we enforce the law as it exists." Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas "I don't think you create any new paths to citizenship. But I also think you allow them to be able to use paths that they would currently qualify for, and to be able to get in the back of the line. And that's part of leadership and getting something resolved. "What we're doing here in this immigration battle is testing our willingness to hold together as a nation or split apart into a lot of Balkanized pieces. "That was an enforcement-only bill in 1996. And we had 7 million undocumented here in the country then. We're at 12 million to 20 million now." Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado "How long will it take for us to catch up with the millions of people who have come here, both legally and illegally, and assimilate them? I'll tell you this. It will take this long — until we no longer have to press one for English and two for any other language. "We're not just talking about the number of jobs that we may be losing or the number of kids that are in our schools and impacting our school system or the number of people that are abusing our hospital system and taking advantage of the welfare system in this country. "We're talking about something that goes to the very heart of this nation: whether or not we will actually survive as a nation. "We are becoming a bilingual nation. And that is not good. "And that is the fearful part of this. The ramifications are much, much more significant than any that we've been discussing so far. "And so, yes, I have said dramatic things. And, yes, I am willing to do whatever is necessary to try to stop this piece of legislation. And that includes going after any Republican that votes for it, because the Republicans can stop this." Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani "The problem with this immigration plan is it has no real unifying purpose. It's a typical Washington mess. It's everybody compromises — four or five compromises. "The organizing purpose should be that our immigration laws should allow us to identify everyone who is in this country that comes here from a foreign country. "They should have a tamper-proof ID card. It should be in a database that allows you to figure out who they are, why they're here, make sure they're not illegal immigrants coming here for a bad purpose, and then to be able to throw out the ones who are not in that database." Rep. Duncan Hunter of California "When they made the sweep on the Swift plants — those were the meat-packaging plants in Iowa; took out some 850 people who were working there illegally several months ago — there were American citizens lined up the next day to get their jobs back at 18 bucks an hour. "And let me tell you, this is a disastrous bill. And John McCain is right in saying that this is a national security issue. And it is: border enforcement. "If they get across my fence, we sign them up for the Olympics immediately." Former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson "Securing the border is going to allow everything else to follow. "But unless you secure the border, it is not right to give 12 million individuals who have illegal rights in this country status before that border is protected. "There should be no amnesty. And this bill, no matter how you cover it, is an amnesty bill. "Have a secure border, then move on. But don't do it the other way." Rep. Ron Paul of Texas "Border security is important. And we talked about amnesty, which I'm positively opposed to. "But one thing that has not been mentioned here, which I think is very, very important: If you subsidize something, you get more of it. So we subsidize illegal immigration. We reward it by easy citizenship, either birthright or amnesty. But we force our states and our local communities to pay for the health care, to pay for the education. Why wouldn't they bring their families? DEMOCRATS Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois " Let's go back to the essential issue here. We are a country of immigrants. We're also a country of laws. And the question is, how do we balance that appropriately? "I am hopeful that we can solve this problem constructively. I think Joe is exactly right, that we want to have a situation in which those who are already here, are playing by the rules, are willing to pay a fine and go through a rigorous process, should have a pathway to legalization. "Everybody is going to learn to speak English if they live in this country. The issue is not whether or not future generations of immigrants are going to learn English. The question is: How can we come up with both a legal, sensible immigration policy?" Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut "Just a related point here: We need to be encouraging more language training in our country. At the time of the 9/11 attacks here, we had advertisements running in national newspapers for anybody who could speak Arabic. We have too few of our people in our country that can understand second languages. This is the 21st century. This is a global economy. We need to encourage more diversity in that." New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson "I would not support legislation that divided families; I would not support legislation that builds a wall, a Berlin-type wall, between two countries the way the bill in the Congress exists today. "That makes sense. Don't reduce the National Guard that's there. Secondly, an earned legalization program — yes, I support that — one that is based on learning English, paying back taxes, passing a background check, getting behind those that are trying to get here legally, obeying laws, embracing American values. And then, lastly, finding ways that we penalize employers that knowingly hire illegal workers. That is essential in an immigration bill. "Now, I commend the Congress for facing up to having a legalization plan, but … our immigration laws in this country always bring families together, together. This separates families." Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware "There doesn't need to be a 700-mile fence. But there does need — look, we ought to start — we all love this phrase: Start talking truth to power. Fourteen million illegals. Now, you tell me how many buses, carloads, planes — they're going to go out and round up all these people, spend hundreds of millions and billions of dollars to do it, with the whole world watching, while we send these folks back. "And I voted for the fence related to drugs. A fence will stop 20 kilos of cocaine coming through that fence. It will not stop someone climbing over it or around it." Former senator Mike Gravel of Alaska "We speak English. That doesn't mean we can't encourage other languages. But the official language of the United States of America is English." Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York "The problem is that if it becomes official instead of recognized as national — which indeed it is, it is our national language — if it becomes official, that means in a place like New York City, you can't print ballots in any other language. That means you can't have government pay for translators in hospitals, so when somebody comes in with some sort of emergency, there's nobody there to help translate what their problem is for the doctor. "So many of us — I did, at least — voted to say that English was our national language, but not the official language because of the legal consequences of that." Full Story http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2007-06-14-candidates-debate-immigration_N.htm?csp=34