Issue Position: Immigration

Issue Position

Our borders have become a convenient tool for Republicans who want to keep our immigration system broken for political gain. The louder the American people call for comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level, the harder the GOP opposes it by describing any attempt to fix our employment, labor and naturalization laws as "amnesty." We need to take the issue seriously rather than reducing it to a heated slogan and letting the problem get worse.

I introduced the Border Security and Accountability Act to direct the Department of Homeland Security and allied agencies to publish a border security plan that takes humanitarian and environmental factors into consideration. It would tell us a lot more than we currently know about the impacts of our border enforcement efforts, which often end up on the front pages of our newspapers for all the wrong reasons.

More broadly, I support a comprehensive immigration reform package with features favored by a clear majority of Americans:

* Requiring immigrants to obtain legal status and pay taxes by filing with the government, submitting to a background check and participating in a new employer verification system.
* Making sure that undocumented immigrants who have no criminal history have a way of obtaining legal status in efficient and just manner.
* Ensuring that border agencies have the resources they need to stop criminal gangs and smugglers, especially at ports of entry.
* Reducing the severe visa backlog and removing the caps for highly skilled workers and family members of permanent residents.

Immigration is a national issue that needs a national solution, not a chaotic patchwork of state-level responses. Rather than a chaotic series of crackdowns followed by more congressional inaction, we should be pursuing federal remedies like allowing high-achieving children of undocumented parents to remain in the country legally if they:

* arrived in the U.S. as minors
* have been in the country continuously for at least five years prior to the bill's enactment
* are between the ages of 12 and 35 when the bill is enacted
* have graduated from an American high school or obtained a GED

Under such a program, usually included in bills such as the DREAM Act, qualifying students would obtain temporary residency for six years, during which they would be required to either:

* get a degree from an institution of higher education in the United States
* complete at least two years of a bachelor's degree or higher degree in the United States
* serve in the uniformed services for at least two years and, if discharged, receive an honorable discharge (enlistment contracts require an eight-year commitment)

I think such a path for young people is a fair, sensible way to address and support those whose parents brought them to this country as children. Encouraging scholastic achievement and service to the community are much more useful, positive solutions than unrealistic cries for massive deportation programs.

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