Senator Hillary Clinton on Comprehensive Immigration Reform
(from hillaryclinton.com)Washington, DC -- "This afternoon, a bipartisan group of Senators, who have been working closely in conjunction with the Administration, announced that they had reached an agreement on a comprehensive approach for reforming our broken immigration system.
"As I have long maintained, comprehensive immigration reform must have as essential ingredients a strengthening of our borders, greater cross-cooperation with our neighbors, strict but fair enforcement of our laws, federal assistance to our state and local governments, strict penalties for those who exploit undocumented workers, and a path to earned legal status for those who are here, working hard, paying taxes, respecting the law, and willing to meet a high bar. In particular, we must also ensure that any bill protects the sanctity of families and does not lead to the creation of a new underclass in our country.
"I will scrutinize carefully the proposed compromise to see if it honors our nation's principles and proud immigrant heritage while also respecting the rule of law."
2 comments:
Great article. I enjoyed reading it.
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Hillary Clinton's substantial support in the Hispanic community is surprising in light of Bill Clinton's hard-line on immigration as President, and her failure to sponsor or co-sponsor any major immigration legislation as a Senator.
On September 30, 1996, Bill Clinton signed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRAIRA), one of the most regressive immigration laws since the infamous Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
Thanks to IIRAIRA, U.S. citizens and Permanent Residents were denied the opportunity to file Green Card petitions for their "illegal" family members, and U.S. employers were denied the opportunity to file Green Card petitions for their "illegal" employees.
Thanks to IIRAIRA, millions of "illegals" who had petitioners willing to sponsor them for Green Cards were forced instead to live in a netherworld of continued illegality and fear, compounding enormously our country's illegal immigration problems.
Hillary Clinton seeks to latch onto Bill Clinton's legacy, yet she has never repudiated IIRAIRA, nor taken the initiative on comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate. Our nation's Hispanics should ask themselves, since September 30, 1996, what has Hillary really done for them?
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