Moving Forward on Immigration

Senators from both parties announced a compromise bill yesterday that would overhaul an immigration system in need of change. Some of the points in this bill look promising, but it will take a lot for both sides to completely agree on them all.

On point that I’m personally happy to see is the path to citizenship that will be given to those illegal immigrants already here by granting them a “Z visa” (some bullet points can be seen here).

Many of you know that I’ve written on this subject before and my main disappointment through the whole immigration fight has been how callus my party has been on the separation of immigrant families by categorizing them as a “threat to national security”. Granted, 12 million are here illegally, but 99.9% of them are here to make a better life for themselves. Forcing them to uproot and go back to their country of origin by performing mass deportations (mainly Mexican nationals) after they’ve been established here for years is heartless, cruel and quite frankly, un-American. President Bush himself (an exception to the majority of my fellow Republicans whom I called out above) said that this bill is “one that will help enforce our borders but, equally importantly, it will treat people with respect.”

This bill is a major step forward, and I applaud the efforts of Senator Kennedy and Senator McCain in bringing it forward to the Senate floor. Here’s hoping for an open-minded debate.

ER