Foster Folley News
January 5th, 2010
In this country, we have a choice on the matter of undocumented immigrants...
(NewsUSA)...to try in vain to enforce a broken law or to change the law to fit the needs of our country now and going forward.
We have been told by the Department of Homeland Security that we don't have the resources to deport the estimated 13 million living in the U.S. without legal papers. And we know from the heavily publicized worksite raids in places like Bedford, Mass., and Postville, Iowa, that the resulting negative economic and human toll makes these actions counterproductive.
Some have reservations about a legalization program because it is claimed that the old Amnesty program did not work in the long run. But the old "amnesty" under the 1986 Immigration Reform & Control Act made a deadly mistake. It did not create a workable system that would allow people to enter the U.S. on worker visas or immigrate to the US in a timely manner to meet the futures needs of our economy. It also made inadequate provisions to achieve family unity.
Today, it can take six years to reunite a legal permanent resident with his or her foreign spouse and children. We need a safe, legal, orderly means for people to enter the U.S. when they have a job that can't be filled by U.S. workers.
One might ask, "Why now?" Because we know that we have to have a visa system that works in a full-employment economy as well as in our current recession.
A legal work visa must be based upon a demonstrated shortage of available U.S. workers. Wages offered to both U.S. and foreign workers must be at least the average wage paid to other workers in the occupation and geographic area.
The time will come when we have a situation where there are widespread workforce demands that can't be satisfied by our domestic workforce. In the meantime, we need to create laws that allow for legal entry so that we can better secure our borders and avoid a new potential wave of uninspected immigration.
http://www.fosterfollynews.com/news/2010Jan1SolvingAmericasImmigrationProblemWillRequireNewLaws.php
