November 9, 2007
Is Immigration an Issue for Democrats?
Mitt Romney is airing a new campaign ad highlighting his hard-line position on immigration, including his opposition, as governor, to providing cheaper in-state tuition rates at Massachusetts public colleges to illegal immigrants.
Interestingly, the commercial flashes photos of the Democratic candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama, rather than shots of his competitors for the Republican nomination. Could it be that Republicans plan to make immigration an issue this campaign season? Mr. Obama and Bill Clinton think so.
What do you think?
Karin Fischer | Posted on Friday November 9, 2007 | PermalinkComments
Previous: Dodd Says He Would Improve Veterans' Education Benefits
Next: A Chronicle Q&A with Barack Obama
Whether this is a democrate or republican issue is… not the issue. Illegal immigration is bad for America, bad for the illegals themselves, and is only profitted by the “Coyote” and less scrupulous businesses.
— Bryan Wilcutt Nov 9, 04:29 PM #
What distresses me most, I think, is that there seems often not to be a differentiation (from either side of the debate) between legal and illegal immigration. My own opinion is that the immigration laws that are being violated are preposterous. Even conservatives must admit that market forces are at work here. Why, then, are they the most vociferous opponents of increasing the number of legal immigrants who pass across our borders?
— barbara Nov 9, 04:55 PM #
Nobody is making immigration an issue. It is an issue.
— Luke Lea Nov 9, 06:57 PM #
The only thing preposterous about our current immigration laws is that they have not been enforced for the last 20 or 30 years. Market forces certainly are behind much of current illegal immigration, as is the endemic corruption in Mexico, but those market forces are accomodated under current immigration law, with its various guest-worker programs. My own Basque grandfather came to this country in the 1920’s as a guest worker. Guest worker and special immigrant programs are in place now for intra-company transfers, athletes, people with special artistic or other skills, and, since 1986, seasonal agricultural workers. I suspect many U.S. employers prefer illegal aliens to legal residents or workers, as their “outlaw” status denies them the protection of the law in cases of employer abuse. Let’s bring in the guest workers that we need, but bring them in legally, with a visa in their passport, as my grandfather did. Illegal entry into this country certainly ought to be an issue, but our current laws may in fact provide much of the answer, if properly utilized.
— Edward Arrizabalaga Nov 11, 04:09 PM #