Immigration
Develop an immigration policy that addresses the new challenges facing the national government since 0-11. Should the government continue to build security fences and maintain a military force to secure the border between the Mexico and the US? Should the government criminalize the construction or use of unauthorized entrances into the US, making smugglers and/or illegal immigrants felons? Should the government introduce a guest worker program and should this program lead to eventual citizenship? Should the government outline a path by which illegal immigrants already in the US could work towards legal status and eventual citizenship?
LIBERAL and RADICAL were RECEIVED ON TIME. CONSERVATIVE AND ULTRA-CON are LATE.
Radical: Ashwin
The lottery of birth shouldn’t privilege any given individual. If you cannot conceptualize why, try and put yourself in a different situation.
Born to a ridiculously poor family in a ridiculously poor country, you work all your life to get out of your situation. Unfortunately, your country limits your progress excessively, to point of helplessness. Still inundated in poverty, the only haven, you conclude, is the United States, the so-called “Land of Opportunity.” Regrettably, both the U.S. and your country will not cooperate to accommodate you because you are just one person. The laws of each country are apparently much, much more important than your individual life. What would you do? Does it really make sense to arrest these people for pursuing a better life, when our government doesn’t help their situation?
It is imperative that we allow immigrants into the United States. Immigrants need help; they are starving and in extreme poverty in their native countries. I’m not advocating that we give them free money; we’re merely letting them work in our country for cheaper.
The Right Wing politicians are citing “terrorist security threats” as the reason to restrict immigration from Mexico. They are yet to indicate even one concrete threat from the southern border. We must establish and sustain a guest worker program that will eventually lead to citizenship. Otherwise, individuals from other nations will never be able to get out of their situations. If we help these workers by granting them citizenship, they will support our economy by paying taxes.
The bottom line is that immigration is extremely advantageous. Our very country was founded upon the idea of a “free land.” To maintain this axiom, a more flexible system must be established to let more workers into this country legally to take jobs in industries where they’re needed most. As this happens, the great stampede of illegal workers would cease. There wouldn’t be so much fuss over illegal immigrants if we allow immigrant to be legal.
On another level, immigration is extremely beneficial to our economy. Restaurant prices are lowered by illegal kitchen staff, fruit and vegetable prices by illegal field hands, new-home prices by illegal drywallers, etc. Immigrants aren’t just a weapon against inflation. The tens of thousands of illegal nannies in the Los Angeles area, for example, lower the cost of child care, freeing mothers to return to work. This in turn increases families’ incomes, which encourages spending and fuels the economy. Although many immigrants send a portion of their earnings home to their families, their influence here remains potent. The Economic Roundtable, a Los Angeles think tank, estimates that the 400,000 illegal workers in L.A. County spend $5.7 billion annually on food, rent, transportation, and other necessities. The sales taxes they pay on all those consumer purchases boost the state treasury. The growing numbers of immigrants who use false papers to get payroll jobs are contributing to Social Security without the right to receive payments from the fund. Analysts estimate that it props up the beleaguered system by at least $5 billion a year. Homeowners will benefit as well. Their apartments and houses may be shabby, but the sheer numbers exert a profound effect. In a state that never has enough housing; the hundreds of thousands of units rented to immigrant families put upward pressure on all prices.
Our government has the opportunity to do a great deal of good, and by the strict laws against immigration, it will not retain its most important nickname, “The Land of Opportunity.”
Liberal: Sid
America, the land of opportunity. The liberal platform believes in giving
people who are in the United States the opportunity to succeed and move
ahead. In keeping with this goal, the liberal platform believes that a road
to citizenship should be available to those immigrants who have proved their
work through hard honest work.
Although immigrants are America's biggest strength, the country should
still, for the sake of security, maintain a level of security at the border
and take measures to ensure that the rate of illegal immigration decreases.
In addition, the government should substantially increase the number of
legal immigrants that can enter the country by increasing the number of
visas, such as the H 1-B visa, that can be issued to people seeking entry
into the United States.
With irrefutable evidence that shows that immigrant, both legal and illegal,
contribute more to the economy, via taxes and entrepreneurial work, the
liberal platform is unified in calling for a more streamlined immigration
process so that the United States of America can continue to strive.
Conservative: Viraj
The only way we can hope to secure liberties for those within our borders is if we have the ability to define who lies within them. Our primary concern should be to drastically reduce illegal immigration by strengthening border control, as well as tracking down immigrants that are currently residing illegally in the country.
Our inability to restrict who is entering our nation has significant economic consequences for the common American. According to the Associated Press, roughly 5% of workers in the United States is employed illegally. With Forbes reporting that 4.6% of Americans are currently unemployed, the logical solution is to provide every American the opportunity to earn a living wage by pursuing aggressive deportation strategies. Even if enough jobs were available for those who wanted them, the presence of illegal immigrants in the workforce drives down wages for other workers because the minimum wage cannot apply to those who are undocumented. This drives down the cost of labor overall, as more workers are available at a cheaper overall cost.
Amnesty programs reward individuals for their criminal behavior. If these programs were passed, illegal immigrants would be eligible for social services such as welfare and food stamps. Our resources should not be diverted to assisting individuals that broke the law to enter this country and who did not contribute to our nation through taxes. To turn our nation into a safe-haven for the poor is to further invite a swarm of aliens across our borders who are looking to take from our great nation without contributing.
One of our best tools in tracking down illegal aliens who still reside within our borders is by emphasize the importance of employers turning in those who apply for jobs without legal status. The government should require employers to verify new employees to ensure their identity and employment papers, placing the responsibility in their hands.
Immigration is what our nation was built upon, and the conservative platform supports legal immigration. We recognize that immigrants are what make America culturally diverse. But illegal immigration has gone unchecked for far too long, and the economy is suffering more and more with each additional alien that sneaks through our borders.
Ultra-Con: Petie
Immigration is a wonderful thing. Not. Immigrants are coming into the US everyday and just taking our jobs away from us US citizens. I declare we should make laws that will enforce to deport illegal immigrants withhold from them all unemployment, educational, welfare, Social Security, and other governmental benefits, and penalize employers knowingly hiring illegal immigrants. I urge that all public employees, in whatever capacity, be required to cooperate and assist in the enforcement of the immigration laws. This unconstitutional drain on the federal Treasury is having a severe and adverse impact on our economy, increasing the cost of government at federal, state, and local levels, adding to the tax burden, and stressing the fabric of society.