“The terms on which foreigners may be admitted to the rights of Citizens, should be speedily ascertained by a uniform rule of naturalization.” – President George Washington.
According to an article by Cameron Joseph published in The Hill, “a coalition of business and religious leaders” joined on Tuesday to “pressure Republicans to embrace immigration reform.” The National Immigration Forum is a bipartisan group supporting the coalition in its fight against the rigid GOP stance towards immigration reform. They claim that the GOP needs to find some flexibility in their approach towards immigration.
Richard Land, a “social” conservative and one of the leaders of the group, states that “the party’s ability to win national elections going forward depends on winning Hispanic voters, and that the party’s handling of immigration reform was hindering that.” Furthermore, Land feels that “if they want to continue to be a contender for national leadership in this country they’re going to have to change their ways on immigration reform.” Curiously, Land only discusses the Hispanics in his fight for immigration reform as if to say that the United States only receives Hispanic immigrants. What about other immigrants who might be facing challenges of their own? Clearly, the emphasis on Hispanics is for one reason and one reason only: Votes.
If they agree to make changes that allow an easy access to citizenship and voting rights for illegal Hispanics, what message does the GOP hope to send to the remainder of us who have legally immigrated to the United States. Many of us who arrived here legally confronted challenges of our own and had to make personal sacrifices to get here as well, and we did not break laws to do so. Should we simply ignore people arriving legally from other nations because they are unable to offer the GOP (or any party for that matter) the choice votes during the next election cycle? What precisely does that say about how far removed we are today from the time when Washington said “foreigners” could gain citizenship in the United States through “a uniform rule of naturalization”? Indeed, the changes are drastic as Land notes that his group is “more concerned about the result than the methodology and process.” What precisely are the results Land and his supporters seek? To signal to future generations of illegal immigrants about how they can achieve citizenship and the right to vote, privileges acquired by legal immigrants through hard work and perseverance.
Politicians definitely need to tackle immigration issues; but to do so by uplifting one group and minimizing the difficulties of another is un-American. Immigration reform needs a careful analysis and must remain a fair practice for all. As such, the GOP would benefit from remembering to stand up for solid American principles instead of bundling under pressures from the latest threat, even if it comes under the guise of “conservative” supporters.
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Photo Credit: terrellaftermath
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Very well said. I’ve been making that argument for years. Immigration “reform” is simply an effort to coddle one specific ethnic group…hispanics. The return payment expected is votes. The assorted Hispanic promotional groups have been playing that card to the hilt. To them reform means amnesty…amnesty…amnesty, then open the floodgates for all their family & friends left behind in whatever sh*thole they escaped from. As the author pointed out, no other nationalities are ever mentioned, just hispanics. Both the Dems & GOP are being held hostage to this, although the Dems have brought their effort to a whole new level. This is no better than Boss Tweed meeting the immigrant ships in the days of old, offerring jobs, cheap housing, and assorted “perks” in exchange for their votes. Of course what he offered always turned out to be nothing short of indentured servitude. And these people (mostly Europeans) came over legally.
Amnesty for illegals is a hard slap in the face to every LEGAL immigrant, past, present, and future. With the exception of most native American nations, America is populated by the progeny of immigrants. Although my own family originally came over here with the Brits and Spanish prior to the existance of the US, a small stream of them continued to pop over up to the late 1800′s…LEGALLY. They endured many hardships to do so. They didn’t marry into it or have anchor babies. They certainly didn’t expect to be on the government teat when they got here. They went through the processes, paid their dues, learned the language, and fought (and died) for their new country. They built businesses, went to church, were charitable to their neighbors. They worked damn hard. Now their decendents sit and watch as politicians jostle to give illegals more than the other guys. Illegals don’t want to become awesome, law-abiding American citizens; they just want what we have….for free if possible. They want special rights for their “special interest” groups. Not any other nationalities, just theirs. Or else! The US needs to stop treating illegals like poor lost souls, and start protecting our borders. Immigration Reform SHOULD mean streamlining the process, making it more affordable, take lawyers out of the process, and reduce annual immigration quotas. They should look at every applicant to see what they can offer the US, NOT what we can offer them. And for pete’s sake, learn the damn language, preferably before they get here. So many immigrants have done just that over the last 250+ years. Don’t insult their efforts to become Americans legally by cowtowing to illegals and their advocates.
I think is unfair that they will let only the hispanics just for the votes. To beging with the parents broke the law when they sneak them into the country and never try to do the right thing to make them legal when the other people who come from lets say Russia, Europe, Israel who have done all the paper work to stay in usa with a visa and then they want to become citizens those should be allowed to take the test and learn about all our rules of the constitution and become citizens. All those other people are here illegal and they should all be send back with the parents to where they came from. Besides they only came to take americans jobs and work for less than minimum wage and they do not care or have any interest in learning about americans law. Them like the radical muslims all they want is to change our rules and want us to run our country like the countries they came from. So they should return where they came from if they do not follow the rules when the other nationalities have done what they were required.