Political Thread of the Week
Dave won't like it, but in the spirit of widening the discussion on the LOB, I'm going to start a new series of posts on some of the big political topics of the day. Today - immigration. Washington has been abuzz with talk about the immigration bill that was passed by the House on Friday, which was widely perceived in the press to be a "compromise" (read: no one particularly likes it).
Now I can't claim to have read the bloody thing, but from what I've read in the Times, it seems to tighten up certain areas such as green card eligibility for relatives of citizens and veers away from "family reunification," which has been the policy for some time. At the same time, conservatives are bellyaching about it opening a path to "amnesty."
My two cents - as you can imagine, I'm way outside the mainstream political spectrum on this and most issues. I'm always been in favor of open borders. To those who fear illegal immigration, I would ask them to look at the conditions in Mexico and Central America. If you don't want illegal immigration, work toward social justice in those areas.
Your thoughts, gents?
posted by gatorbob @ 4:06 PM
2 Comments:
As you can imagine given my line of work, immigration reform is a topic I follow closely. The Bill that the full Senate will take up in June is the product of much give and take between Senate Dems, some Senate Repubs and the White House. I am presuming the coalition of Senators supporting the bill have enough invoke cloture and cut off debate to get the bill passed.
I suppose the House will get its own bill through its Chambers this summer, although I have not heard when such action is likely.
Migrant farm worker advocates have been working for many years to get Agjobs passed. Agjobs are particular provisions that will allow undocument laborers working in agriculture to have a more expeditious path to legal status, provided that they can prove prior ag work and agree to stay in ag work for between 3 and 5 more years.
Migrant farm workers are responsible for getting our crops from the field to the table and into the stream of commerce. The majority of these workers are undocumented, which means they live in the shadows of our society (moreso than many recent immigrant groups). Although Agjobs has a number of aspect that I think are unfair to the workers, it is better than the status quo.
I agree with you, Gator B. Less barriers to entry is good in any captialist economy.
Great to hear your thoughts on an issue that I know is close to your heart. The House and Senate bills are fatally flawed in my eyes and you only have to look to Europe to see the problems with "guest worker programs." In France, for example, the horrible treatment of "guest workers" - mainly from North Africa and the Middle East - exploded in riots last summer. That's led directly to the election of Nicholas Sarkozy who has a hard right position on immigration similar to Tom Tancredo's.
As for the political side of things, I'll be surprised if there are sixty votes for cloture in the Senate. The bill splits both parties down the middle, although the split is perhaps less severe on the Dem. side, where liberals such as Ted Kennedy are behind the bill. Still, the people backing the bill will have to move some GOP senators over from the right and some Dem. senators over from the left in order to cut off discussion.
It'll probably come up in the next day or so - it'll be interesting to see what happens.
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