Obama To Push Immigration Reform Bill This Year

New York Times:

While acknowledging that the recession makes the political battle more difficult, President Obama plans to begin addressing the country's immigration system this year, including looking for a path for illegal immigrants to become legal, a senior administration official said on Wednesday.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[TXfemmom]

Look, there are eleven million illegal Mexicans here in the United States. Supposedly, there are a million others of various other countries here.

I live in TX and our qualify of life is being destroyed by undocumented workers. Recently, someone rented a home in our neighborhood, but it was a sham lease in that the person wasn't really going to live in that home. Suddenly, we had twelve old, trashy automobiles and trucks around that home, in the yard, and everywhere. Loud Tejano music blared from the vehicles and the home until very late at night. They raced in and around the neighborhood, threw beer bottles and cans everywhere, and finally there was a huge fight in the front yard with four people stabbed and three shot, with one killed. It was a nightmare, and when the police went in there they found 23 beds, sleeping bags, etc. and there was trash filling the backyard, despite the fact that garbage service ran twice a week. They found cocaine, marijuana, and kiddie porn in the house. Virtually all of these men had been deported from the United States at least once, and several had very serious felony records.

Despite that having happened, it filled up with more people and it took the homeowners' association and the owner$5,000 and three months to get this situation cleared out and it took fifteen Constables and Sheriffs to evict them. The owner had thousands in damages.

[Dr Manhattan]

Yup. Seen that same exact scenerio in Chicago. The Lithuanian/Polish neighborhiood my girlfriend family lived in went all Mexican and now it's a hellhole. Same stuff you describe happens there. It's a shame, it was real nice clean and safe neighborhood. Not anymore.

[Gasparilla]

They live twenty to a house so they can send their money to their families in Mexico. Unfortunately, we put up with the consequences.

[rikkirighteous]

We should take a lesson from the great country of Mexico and stop illegal immigrants coming from Central and South America in their tracks, detain them in encampments, then send them back.

Guess Mexico doesn't like "browner" people........

[Gasparilla]

OK, they're here trying to make a better life. How many billions of the world's poor are you wiling to accept. Do you want to be working for a dollar an hour? Is there any limit to the number you would let in? Not to mention the fact that you'll complain about the environment and then be willing to let evermore people in and degrade the environment further.

[jonmonbuckeye]

I hate to burst your bubble, but this country isn't the end all, be all. Rush Limbaugh said that would pay any American citizen 5 million dollars who didn't want to be here anymore to leave. I am willing to take him up on that offer. Now if I can just get back the money I paid into Social Security because I don't want my tax dollars going to support white trash.

[Gasparilla]

Good job of not answering what I said. I said how many billions of the world's poor are you willing to accept? Is there any limit? Polls in many countries like Mexico and India show that substantial numbers would move here if they could. You're just in denial.

[jonmonbuckeye]

I will support sending illegals back to Mexico when America supports executing drug users- publicly.

[AKJM]

your reply to R.Butler applies here

[sparkey]

It doesn't matter if you've been here one hour or 20 years. If you are here illegally, then you are illegal and must be sent back where you came from. Barrack, what part of ILLEGAL don't you understand. You might get the illegal vote in 2012, but you won't get mine or millions of other voters. You are a one term president.

[poiuyty]

This won't make him one term.

Geithner already called shotgun on that ride...

[CosmicSpaceTurtle]

I like how conservatives pretend to be the moral ones, but they have the least amount of empathy for other human beings. Disgusting.

Like it or not, the majority of Americans support President Obama and agree with him on the issues.

[jonmonbuckeye]

It's not just conservatives my friend. I am a conservative, and I am totally behind this President. He is making the tough choices and unpopular decisions. That is what I want my President to do. He has my vote in 2012.

[nee]

Prove to me that "Americans agree with Obama on this issue".

[AKJM]

Obama didn't grow up in a Black family, he did not see a broken undereducated by design, GOOD man

come home to his family. He didn't see his father struggle against a stacked deck soon to face unfair

competition from ILLEGAL aliens.

Black folk, this is your hero.

[RButler]

If only Obama would sign legislation that would tax just the supporters of his 'comprehensive' (read amnesty) plan to pay for the costs of illegal immigration education, incarceration, health care and other associated expenses and free the rest of us from any financial responsibility. The supporters keep saying that illegal immigrants pay more in taxes than they use in services, so the expense should be real low. Plus, they get to put their own money where there mouths are but not yours and mine. I'm sure they'll agree to that as they are so compassionate and generous (with other people's money).

[LKV]

Lets say we deport 11 million illigal immigrants that work and pay taxes what do you think will happen then to the economy let alone the crops, resturants, hotels and so much more of our ecomnomy?

[Leo satx210]

What will happen you say? American has thrived and survived much worse. We don't give a rats a*** about the lettuce they pick, or th lawns they cut.,

"Americans cut your own damn lawns!"

We will rid ourselves of this notorious burden, one way or another. It's up to 'you people" Yes I said, "You people" to get with the program or else.

[jweider]

Those 11 million are not paying taxes. Most of them are being payed in cash. The money they are making is beingsent home, and thus not being circulated in our economy. I would say it would greatly improve our economy when the employers are forced to pay US citizens better wages.

[ADVOCATE4ZPG]

The "needed" agricultural workers can't be TEMPORARILY admitted under HB1(??) visas which specify minimum working conditions, etc. The "hospitality" industries can similarly apply--even though U.S. citizens perform some of the labour in these occupations already.

Wages for the "least" among you MAY rise--as they should! The incomes of those in these occupations MAY account for some income shift from overcompensated areas, e.g., the financial sector, the medical sector, and the legal sector.

Some econ. activity will be REORGANIZED and/or AUTOMATED....just as cotton harvesting shifted from manual picking to mechanical in the 1930s. Of incidental interest, MECHANICAL COTTON harvesting patents go back to, at least, the 1850s. One can extrapolate that only the EXISTENCE of slave labour delayed the onset of mechanical harvesting of cotton....

It is of signal importance that the only argument put for by the AMNESTY proponents--not their HuffPo blogging apologists--is that of dividing families. This is little more than a sappy description of the consequence of the extant cycle of law-breaking followed by periodic AMNESTY of ILLEGALS. In short without the last (1986) AMNESTY (Simpson-Mazzoli), ALL of the family members would be subject to DEPORTATION....

As an alternative to yet another AMNESTY for ILLEGAL ALIENS, why don't
its advocates and apologists SEND THEIR $$ to Latin America et al. to enable their demographic surfeits to become self-sufficient. The OVERWELMING MAJORITY of U.S. citizens oppose bringing any more Third World values to THEIR country!

[ekoorb]

They will deport themselves if we simply enforce labor laws. If there are 11 million, let's assume 8 million of them are in the labor force. With them gone, unemployment would drop by 60%, leaving slightly over 5 million Americans unemployed. Those American citizens who are able to find work would be able to keep their homes, pay taxes, and support their families. As for the restaurants, I'd love to be able to have a restaurant job again, and if being bilingual is no longer necessary, I would stand a better chance. I'm always amazed at how the blacks still manage to take the dishwashing jobs but not much else. Regarding the crops, if existing laws regarding migrant labor and housing are not sufficient, change those laws.

[Ohioliberal]

The economy will be fine with employers complying with the law and offering livable wages to their workers. Sorry you support the abuse of workers

[randyjet]

Is there any person who is pro-illegal who can give a rational reason for allowing millions of non-US citizens to have jobs here,while we have millions now who are unemployed. To say that they do jobs that Americans won't take is an outright LIE. You forget that such jobs were ALL done by Americans before, and can well be done again. I guess none of the pro-illegals have read any American literature or authors, or know any US history. I refer you to the Grapes of Wrath, and the fact that the US only brought in workers from Mexico in large numbers because of WWII.

So please tell me why illegals should have jobs while US citizens should not?

[poiuyty]

Because they make good tacos.

[OB08]

How many white people do you see out there picking fruit, cleaning the restrooms etc? Not..

[CosmicSpaceTurtle]

It's really just a matter of basic empathy for other human beings. Most of these illegal immigrants are just trying to make a better life for themselves, and they came out of desperate circumstances. I don't think they should be treated like demons just because they came here without filling out the right paperwork. People are people.

I really believe that if all of these same illegals were legal immigrants, you'd still see conservatives complaining about them. Almost every immigrant group in American history has faced bigotry and demonization from those on the right. They're always looking for a new scapegoat to blame all of Americas problems on. The big three today seem to be: Islam, Illegals, and Gays.

[LKV]

point well made. There are so many people that are terrified of what will be done to them if they are picked up by immigration, they are seperated from their families that are legal childeren are left with our their mothers or fathers, it is terrible. These are people that just want to make a better life for their families.

[randyjet]

Why is there no empathy for the poor AMERICANS who cannot get jobs? There are millions of them who have the same low level of education and skills and who suffer because the illegals drive down their wages. The meatpacking jobs used to pay $19/hr, and the companies actively brought in illegals to do the work. The average wage is now $9/hr. Where is YOUR compassion for those people?

When Swift Company was raided in CO. The company had to get new workers to replace so many illegals. They immediately raised wages by $3/hr and had Americans standing in line to get those jobs. How about the workers who were working there who were legal employees? They got a big raise because of the fact that the illegals were gone. Where is your compassion for those workers who had low wages for all those years because of the illegals?

The illegals came here AGAINST our will and our laws. They did not just happen to trip and fall across the border. There are billions of people who would love to come here. I suppose that they ALL have that RIGHT TOO?

[nee]

Cosmicspacecadet - go to your local prision or jail and see how many ILLEGALS are there "just trying to make a better life for themselves". Invite them into your home and neighborhood. Tell me how that works for you.

[LKV]

Ignorance is still legal or you would be deported.

[nee]

What's wrong LKV you can't answer the question?

[TioNed]

Why don't you ask the people who hire them, pay them to be here, and look the other way when they know their employee's papers are no good or non-existent? How about the congressmen who wouldn't vote funds to enforce the laws that are already on the books (this issue was sorted out one time, back when Reagan(!) was president).

Of course, those people aren't "libruls", people who exploit migrant laborers rarely are.

[poiuyty]

We should use the death penalty on all employers caught with an illegal alien. We can put people to death for other forms of treason, why not aiding an invading army?

[TrueIndy08]

I don't know about the death penalty... but I do think they should be fined so heavily that it will cripple their business... then they will think twice before hiring an illegal

[poiuyty]

Ok mandatory life sentence for them, and anyone related by blood pays a 10k fine.

[CosmicSpaceTurtle]

Please tell me you're pulling a Jonathan Swift with this post.

[RButler]

Just a thought. Why does the guy who stacks the produce in the supermarket in air conditioned comfort make more money and get better benefits than the farm worker who picks the vegetables in the hot sun of the San Joaquin Valley? Wouldn't it be great if people's income were based according to the skill and responsibility of their jobs rather than who knows what? What if a nurse made more money than Brittany Spears or a mortgage broker? A teacher made more than a news anchor. An airline pilot or a doctor more than Julia Roberts. I hope Obama's restructuring of America's economy has an effect in that direction-that our resources are directed to the necessities of life more than to the luxuries. If there's money left over, sure, spend it on the goodies but not until health care, education, infrastructure, public safety, the environment are taken care of first.



It's likely that instead of 'supply and demand' driving up wages, what will happen is that Obama will sign some sort of legalization bill together with making it easier to form unions. So, we'll have a plentiful workforce demanding higher wages instead of higher wages chasing a limited workforce. I don't know if that's a good thing. We've seen in Detroit what happened over the years when unions got fat, lazy and greedy cause they could.

[Ohioliberal]

I agree, as long as all of the workers are legal citizens or legal workers. Politically I am as left as you can get except when it comes to anemsty for illegals.

[zitlight73]

I guess this is to be expected from a country that doles out billions of taxpayer dollars as bonuses to people who totally destroyed not only their companies but the entire global economy. If I was a legal immigrant and saw illegal immigrants being rewarded with citizenship for entering this country illegally I'd be pissed off. Much of what drives illegal immigration is the same thing that drives all of corporate America,greed and the knowledge that white collar criminals with political connections are above the laws of the land. Sending the people who knowingly hire illegal workers to prison using the laws already on the books is only way to stem the flow of illegal aliens, promising them possible citizenship is like putting out a fire with gasoline.

[FairTalk]

We don't need immigration reform. We need to deal with the greed and selfishness and disrespect for the law that results in chronic illigals.

Why does the NYT champion the illegals? Why not champian the cause of inner city youth, who are chronically unemployed, and whose opportunities are stolen by illegals?

We need jobs not jails.

[oregonrain]

Why aren't the immigration laws that exist already enforced ? I live in a town , that is bulging at the seams with Illegal immigrants. Our social services are stretched to the limits. With the current state of the economy , why would Obama be pushing new comprehensive immigration policies. I will admit , I voted for him , but , after hearing his statement on Turkey , and now , this , he wont get my vote again , if he decides to run a second time .

[RButler]

I want to put to rest this 'they do jobs Americans won't do' business once and for all. Americans will do all kinds of jobs if they are well paid. Illegal immigrants do certain jobs for much less than Americans will do them. For example. There is a TV show that shows crab fishermen off the coast of Alaska doing what looks like a miserable job. It is one of the most dangerous jobs as well but they get paid something like $60,000 a season and the crew looks like mostly white guys and no Mexicans that I've seen. So, it's not the job itself. It's the pay. Also, there is another show called 'Dirty Jobs' where the 'star' goes on site doing things like cleaning septic tanks, catching ostriches, cleaning out a cement mixer and other really obnoxious jobs, again done mostly by what appear to be white guys and not Mexicans.

If there were no illegal immigrants and employers had to keep raising wages to attract American workers, who then would be making a living wage, what's wrong with that? It would affect all businesses in an area so it wouldn't just be a disadvantage to one employer if all restaurants, for example, had to pay the higher prevailing wages.

[jonmonbuckeye]

I wanted to reply, but you're just too stupid.

[Gasparilla]

You wanted to reply, but you don't have one.

[texastrixie]

How glad I am I don't have grandchildren to worry about. I am semi-retired and even when I go back to work, will work only part-time. My husband is a professional blue-collar with certifications out the waz--, so he is insulated from an influx of other workers. But if we had kids, or grandkids, I would be very worried.

For us, it will all be gravy. Obama will let in millions of illegal immigrants, and probably, much to his suprise, millions more will pile in to take up the empty ranks of the "illegal" once the former members are declared "legal." They will put money into Social Security, which will save the Baby Boomers from working until they drop, but no one else.

Due to the influx of poorly paid future retirees into Social Security, the benefits of retirees (say in about 40 years) will have to be slashed for those contributing the most because there will be a push from the huge lower class electorate to expand the payout for those with the lowest input.

Hispanics are going to be the dominant electoral force in this country in 25 years. They will be able to do anything they want, including annexing Mexico if they wish. For the younger people in this country, I worry about you. For anyone approaching your 60's, luckily we will probably be either dead or too out of it to notice the changes (if we're lucky).

[TrueIndy08]

i feel for me too... I really feel for my son

[nycjerry]

No disrespect intended but I think arguments like this are bogus and have been disproved throughout the history of this nation. The Irish, Italians and Chinese all faced the same type of accusations. Why didn't we annex Ireland in the 20th century? They came over in their millions in the middle of the 19th century. In 1840, half of all immigrants to this country were Irish. They were discriminated against and derided as Hispanics are experiencing now, yet they persevered. Look at them now. They are now a vital part of the American fabric.

I guess my larger point is that people did not leave Ireland behind in order to remain Irish. They left the country of their birth to become Americans, and I believe the Hispanics are on the same path.

[TrueIndy08]

they are not on the same path.... they are coming here demanding we cater to them rather than them trying to assimilate into our culture and way of life...

They want us to play our national anthem in Spanish
They want everything written for them in Spanish... rather than them learn English
They come here flying the Mexican flag all the while disrespecting the American flag

No other crew of immigrants has ever done what these people are trying to do...

[steamboat]

We didn't have a Social Security until the 1930's.....Those you mentioned came over well before that.

[305Rider]

Yes they are. I think the main fear in this country over this is that unlike the other major migrations, in which the people came from faraway lands that are seperated from us by oceans, Latinos are coming from a country next door. It makes people feel like they are being invaded.

[RButler]

A couple of points.

First. Unlike Ireland or other European countries, Mexico borders the US which makes travel easier and the attachment to the home country easier to maintain.

Second.
I vacationed in Acapulco and noticed that the staffs at the hotel, the airport, restaurants, cabs and pretty much everywhere tourists went spoke English. How was that possible? They were in Mexico. For some reason, Mexicans living in California, where English is the dominant language, many Mexicans have a difficult time learning English when it's all around them. There's something fishy going on about that.

Third.
All 4 of my grandparents came over from Greece in the early 1920s through Ellis Island and went through all the protocol that was required at the time along with immigrants from many other countries. Although they lived in communities of like nationalities, they were legal immigrants and didn't have to hide and live in an underground culture where they didn't interact with English speaking government representatives or businesses for the most part. They assimilated and their children and grandchildren were Americans with varying degrees of their original heritage. I consider myself an American and not a Greek-American. I don't own or wave the Greek flag. I have fondness for many elements of Greek culture but, heck, I was born in California not Athens.