New York Times: Obama to Tackle Immigration Reform in Year One

America's Voice Blog

Posted 04/09/09 at 10:10am

obama Important piece in the New York Times today on immigration reform. The White House reaffirms its commitment to moving immigration reform forward in year one.

Julia Preston reports:

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.

The article doesn't get to the point that legalizing 12 million workers will vastly increase tax revenue ($66 billion over next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Joint Committee on Taxation), lift Americans' wages by providing a level playing field, and provide a sane counterpoint to the costly alternative being presented by the Lou Dobbs Lobby: the mass deportation of the 12 million immigrant men, women, and children living and working in the U.S. without papers.

Despite that, it is the latest, most affirmative sign that the White House is committed to moving forward on sensible solutions to our immigration crisis in the first year of an Obama administration.

Check out the full article here.

By Jackie Mahendra
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Another thing, you can’t just
assume that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF
THESE illegals is some hard working
law abiding individual. I am so sick
of hearing that. I was actually
VERY surprised to hear Carl Rove give
his immigration plan last week. It
was actually quite sensible and very
fair. It requires that American citi-
zenship be EARNED, NOT GIVEN AWAY,
as it should be. It should be
earned and taxed, not just given
because some one demands it.

03-14-10 By Charlotte Dean(???)

When is every one going to stop
assuming these illegals are all
innocent people. They are all actually
criminals, many of them are violent
criminals involved in the drug trade.
The notion that they all are just
innocent hard working people is crazy
There needs to be rigorous background
checks and finger print checks.
I keep hearing, we deserve every thing
the Anmericans have… ? We should
have this, we should be able to do
that because we are here and we want
to… but I never hear what any one
wants to do for America or Americans,,,
why is that? Does not seem like a
whole lot of gratitude to me, in
fact I never hear a shred of gratitude
from ANY of these so called ‘immingrants’.

Why I ask?

03-14-10 By Bill Carter(arizona)

well don’t think obama, gonna d anything for help illegal immigracion, just why all the stupid peoples wast they time to vte for him, instead vote fr mcain, his a republican but alwaya think about the imigrants, but the best president in this country was RONALD REAGAN,,,, the only one was worried about imigracion. MR REAGAN, where you are i believe you are close t god, because you are a great person. godbless

03-14-10 By robert perry(usa)

We already did this in the 1986 with the passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act. 2.7 million illegals secured legal status - most of them fraudulently which was largely ignored by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. This program is pretty much what our current government wants to use.

Obama today is actually mouthing almost the exact words that were used to sell the above program to the American people. They will learn English, better themselves with education, move up in the labor markets, and pay taxes. The last BIG lie they gave us was they would secure our borders and this would not happen again. They also promised to prosecute business and employers who hire illegals. None of that happened….

Few understand that legal immigrants, obtain the legal right to bring still more migrants to the US. Fewer still understand the impact on the environment of a fast-growing population. They are eligible for SS disability benefits even though they have not paid into the system - that system is already failing. We have proved that amnesties simply bring in more illegals and they cry for an amnesty program. As a country we are not capable of creating adequate infrastructure for those who are already living here - why strain it further. They use our road, schools, government facilities and social services.

Last is the high cost of cheap labor and the lowering of general wages within the US. Households headed by illegals cost us more than $26.3 billion in costs for the year 2002 and they paid only $16 billion in taxes. The largest costs were: Medicaid $2.5 billion; treatment for the uninsured $2.2 billion; food stamps, WIC and free school lunches $1.9 billion; federal prison system and court costs $1.6 billion and federal aid to schools $1.4 billion. Nearly 2/3 of illegals lack a high school degree. Children born to illegals are entitled to public assistance.

If illegals are given amnesty and begin to pay taxes and use services like households headed by legal immigrants with the same education level, the estimated annual net fiscal deficit would increase from $2,700 per household to nearly $7,700 for a total cost of $29 billion in taxpayer dollars. So, legalization might increase tax payments by 77%, the average costs would rise by 118%.

While I agree that the fiscal deficit they create for the federal government is not the result of their unwillingness to work. The educational level is a key determinant of fiscal impact. Most all of the 1986 illegals did not improve the educational level and were still on government assistance programs 10 years after they were given anmesty.

Now for those of you that believe they only take low paying jobs no one wants. Not true. They have moved into the construction trades which has dropped the annual wage of an American worker doing the same job some 45% over the last 6-8 years. They are framing houses, laying brick, tiling, roofing, landscaping and running their own businesses in these trades. When they are hired they work on the books some of the time, which means they pay taxes, SS and Medicare, but the net fiscal deficit grows from $2,700 to $6,600 per household.

Bottom line here is that we are a nation of laws, rules and regulations. Illegal is illegal. If we keep rewarding bad behavior, we are doomed as a nation. We already have outright drug wars on our streets in southern cities. We have a border that is like a sieve and we have done nothing at all to stop the flow. Terrorist that are here likely already have their forged documents ready for legalization. If we do this we are ignoring all those who have stood in line and waited patiently to be able to legally immigrate here. We will be straining our social services, our schools, our courts, our prison and our medical services. We will increase the federal budget by billions each year and we will still have unemployment of 10% or more. Americans deserve better, they deserve their jobs back.

For all you crying about your status, why you should stay here, why your husband should not have been deported. OBEY THE LAW, be courteous and get in line like the rest of the people wanting to come here.

03-16-10 By Sandy(Granbury, Texas)

If we give amnesty to these people we spit in the face of others that are standing in line, obeying our laws, and waiting patiently to get here. If we give amnesty for our total costs for government services would be $28.i billion per year…. because large-scale unskilled immigration is incompatible with current economic conditions and an extensive welfare state. If the fiscal costs are to be avoided, then our immigration policies need to reflect current fiscal and economic realities and the number of unskilled immigrants, legal or illegal, should be reduced. With an unemployment rate of 10% or more (many are not counted because they have exhausted their benefits), we can’t afford to give away more of our American jobs to people illegally entering this country and breaking our laws.

03-16-10 By Matty Ringer(Granbury, Texas)

I believe in ejecting immigrants unlawfully in the US. Until someone defines the word “illegal” different than current definition. Everything about them is illegal. My tax dollars educate, medicate, house these people who failed to become legal visitors in the US. Our health care would be less, taxes would be less, and approximately 6 million more jobs for people who are here legally. Having babies, working jobs, is fraud. The people who employ them are fraudulent. Yet, Gov increases my taxes to make up the difference. No other country in the world allows this. People who marry illegal immigrants are committing fraud. Stealing, burglary, drunk driving, evading taxes, defamation of our flag are illegal. Now, someone explain the difference! If you’re living on Gov. welfare and are a US citizen, get a job, If you are an illegal, GET OUT!

03-17-10 By Winchel

I do not wish to upset anyone—but please—lets be honest—there are a lot of illegals in this country—not paying taxes, not learing the language—and living off the system—rent assistance, power, food, medical, etc.—which they are not paying a dime for.—the american people are paying for it with our taxes.—I think if they truly want to become united states citizens then they need to do it the right way. (learn the language, respect the people born in this country, do not burn or disrespect the American Flag). I would also like to point out the employment situation. there are milliions of AMERICANS out of work, loosing homes, can not get medical attention, etc. I have a lot of family members unemployed. Somebody please explain where we are going to find jobs for everyone. The United States of America has a responseability to address the needs of its citizens first. I do not blame anyone for wanting a better life, we all do. But the bottom line is, we (the american people) are being taxed to death.

03-18-10 By c(NC)

I agree with everyone here, and am a victim of our immigration policy.

These laws were made for other people, not me. Besides, after we make this law useless, we can undermine other laws. Soon we will be living in anarchy, which will be great! I can’t wait! No laws!

03-22-10 By Jon Banner

Hello,
8 million illegal aliens with jobs, in excess of 15 million AMERICANS without jobs is this what you consider social justice?
must have amnesty in order to enforce immigration laws? what kind of babbling b.s is that.
e-verify works but liberals don’t want to consider that or this bio-metric card unless you legalize people who have completley disregarded this countries laws.
as far as anchor babies, no ones forcing those kids to stay.
bottom line it’s the AMERICAN worker and taxpayer thats taking it on the chin. illegals take jobs and deplete wages. wages will not increase with amnesty because there will still be too many people chasing too few jobs. ever hear of supply and demand? the only reason the democratic party wants amnesty is for the votes.
as far as deportation if they can’t work (E-VERIFY) they will self deport, if they can’t sign up for welfare,get special student loans etc they will self deport.
pretending that amnesy will help the AMERICAN worker is a load.
maybe you liberal thinkers could spare a little compassion for the AMERICAN worker and taxpayer fpr a change.

03-23-10 By Ed Kitting(Elyria Ohio)

I live in California and experience firsthand the effects of uncontrolled illegal immigration - crimes escalating, Latino gangs terrorizing neighborhoods, the educational system dumbed down by multitudes of non-English speaking illegals, the health system facing collapse, illegals undercutting American workers’ wages - I could go on and on.
I came to the US many years ago as a legal immigrant and have no compassion for criminals who cut in line instead of waiting their turn.
I realize we can’t deport all illegals, whether there are 12 or 20 million within our porous borders. But there is a way called “ATTRITION THROUGH ENFORCEMENT”. Let the illegals march as much as they want - but only toward and then across our southern border!