U.S. Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL)
On November 18, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) addressed supporters of immigration reform on a national conference call organized by Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and Immigration Reform for America, a policy group that is spearheading a campaign to promote public support for the issue. The purpose of the conference was to rally support for comprehensive immigration reform legislation.
As Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) pointed out, immigration reform is not an issue that solely interests Hispanic groups, or even immigrant groups. It is, rather, a very serious issue for all Americans that has civil rights, economic prosperity, and national security implications. In its present state, the US’s broken immigration system is responsible for dividing many thousands of families every year. Even the children of illegal immigrants, who are in fact natural born U.S. citizens, are at risk of de facto deportation when their parents are apprehended and whisked back to their country of origin. According to Congressman Luis Gutierrez, immigrants who are not here legally but have nonetheless been positive contributors to the country must be provided with a process for coming out of the shadows, paying taxes, learning English, and earning the legal status. The congressman plans on introducing such legislation in December.
According to speakers on the call, the ineffective immigration system in the United States not only jeopardizes the enfranchisement of the working class, it poses a risk to the competitiveness and productivity of American industry by preventing the entry of skilled workers as well as manual laborers that are essential for a properly functioning economy. Various sectors, such as agriculture, have historically depended on immigrant workers to satisfy labor shortages. Today, even with a struggling economy, immigrant workers are still needed to fill the blue collar and agricultural positions for which an increasingly educated native-born population is overly qualified. Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), said that the CHC is “committed to pass immigration reform during this congress,” as doing so will get the economy working again.
Immigration reform advocates also argue that the current immigration system must be reformed in order to safeguard America’s national security. The inadequate number of visas that are granted annually to immigrant workers creates an incentive for criminals to circumvent authorities in order to smuggle humans, drugs, and weapons into the country. Human traffickers provide an alternative to legal entry into the United States, while drug dealers and violent criminals exploit the overstretched resources of the Border Patrol in order to import contraband.
Reform Immigration for America encourages all those who want to follow the immigration reform debate to visit their website at www.reformimmigrationforamerica.org, or text justice or justicia to 69866.
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