Issue Position: Immigration

Issue Position

I am the proud husband of an immigrant to the United States from Colombia. My wonderful wife is a shining example of the power of properly enforced immigration procedures. One of the proudest moments of my life was witnessing her naturalization ceremony in Baltimore City. She is a self made woman who paid her way through college with consistent hard work. She has added value to our country every step of the way and has overcome enormous obstacles. As I have laid out in my economic plan, immigration is not a nationality issue but a legal one. Immigrants have been, and will always be, a long term economic benefit to this country but disregard for the law is unacceptable. We must streamline the procedure for those who wish to come here legally. Our current policy is not a policy at all and I will work to make improvements through the following tools. Securing the borders must be a national priority. The constant threat of terrorism and narco-trafficking through both our southern and northern border should have prioritized secure borders decades ago but unfortunately it has not. Token measures and platitudes have inflicted untold damage to what should have been a long term plan using America's incredible technological capacity to seek new solutions to this problem. Secondly, I believe we must move towards a re-evaluation of the current chain migration and diversity visa based system. This system is grossly inadequate for attracting the world's best and brightest to the U.S. and severely limits our future capacity for economic growth. Thirdly, we must continue our efforts to enforce immigration laws in the Homeland while at the same time streamlining the process for those immigrants wishing to relocate here. Economic analysis has shown that across generations immigrants add wealth to our nation through the importation of human capital and ideas. A growing population is also necessary to purchase the financial assets of our seniors and increase our tax base but anyone looking to make the U.S. their home must respect the process and follow the established legal procedure.

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