Senate stalls on immigration bill
From today's Winston-Salem Journal:
I’m torn on this 700-mile wall, er, fence thing.
Isn’t freedom somewhat about being able to walk outside the confines of your native country? This works both ways: for "Legals" — us — and "Illegals" — them. For as much time as some Americans talk about spreading freedom around the world, immigration is one subject where they frequently change their tunes.
But building such a fence, a wall — a whatever — could drastically reduce illegal immigration now. Notice I didn’t say ‘stop’ — where there’s a will, there’s a way.
But something has to be done. We can’t afford to allow undocumented, illegal, or whatever-you-want-to-call immigrants the continued benefits of American living without a fair contribution through taxes. If they’re here to work, they should pay income tax. But there’s no way to make sure this happens unless they’re inked and numbered just like the rest of us. That means some sort of legal status. Either that or the federal sales tax/no income tax thing we discussed a few weeks back should be adopted.
For the "ship ‘em back" proponents: good luck rounding up every "Illegal" and sending them back for any reason. And if that was ever accomplished, now you’ve hurt the "Legals," too — millions of members of their workforce have just been ousted from the country, and many of Americans are left with an employee-less business.
This all should’ve been taken care of a while ago.
P.S. Welcome, Tanya.
A deadlock in the Senate emerged yesterday as Democrats stood firmly behind a major bill to overhaul immigration, and Republicans said that the bill does not have the votes to pass unchanged.
Knowing that a compromise will be needed to gain Senate approval, key Republicans met behind closed doors to try to reach consensus on the most contentious part of the reform effort: whether the nearly 12 million illegal immigrants already in the United States should be allowed to remain in the country and become citizens.
...Studies show that nearly 12 million illegal immigrants live in the United States, and that 500,000 more enter the country every year. Ideas on how to respond to this influx have ranged from building 700 miles of fencing along the southern border to guest-worker programs, supported by President Bush, that would allow illegal immigrants to remain and work legally.
I’m torn on this 700-mile wall, er, fence thing.
Isn’t freedom somewhat about being able to walk outside the confines of your native country? This works both ways: for "Legals" — us — and "Illegals" — them. For as much time as some Americans talk about spreading freedom around the world, immigration is one subject where they frequently change their tunes.
But building such a fence, a wall — a whatever — could drastically reduce illegal immigration now. Notice I didn’t say ‘stop’ — where there’s a will, there’s a way.
But something has to be done. We can’t afford to allow undocumented, illegal, or whatever-you-want-to-call immigrants the continued benefits of American living without a fair contribution through taxes. If they’re here to work, they should pay income tax. But there’s no way to make sure this happens unless they’re inked and numbered just like the rest of us. That means some sort of legal status. Either that or the federal sales tax/no income tax thing we discussed a few weeks back should be adopted.
For the "ship ‘em back" proponents: good luck rounding up every "Illegal" and sending them back for any reason. And if that was ever accomplished, now you’ve hurt the "Legals," too — millions of members of their workforce have just been ousted from the country, and many of Americans are left with an employee-less business.
This all should’ve been taken care of a while ago.
P.S. Welcome, Tanya.
posted by Strother | 12:07 PM
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