Esther Cepeda: Amnesty Supporters Again Banking on Whole Enchilada
“At root, compromise is when everyone gets some of what they want and no one gets all of what they wish for. But the Democrats and the immigrant activist groups that support them have consistently gambled on the losing strategy of not being willing to consider anything less than what amounts to a full amnesty,” says Esther Cepeda in her latest column.
“The Achieve Act, the recently announced Republican alternative to the Dream Act, was dead on arrival for most Democrats because it doesn’t automatically lead to citizenship as the Dream Act does. Still, the Republican plan would extend new visas to people younger than 28 who were brought to the United States before age 14 and have no serious criminal records.”
STEM Bill Splits Silicon Valley, Amnesty Lobby
“Immigration is a highly charged political topic, but boosting the number of skilled workers should be a no-brainer. America’s entrepreneurs have disproportionately been immigrants, from Andrew Carnegie and Alexander Graham Bell to Sergei Brin of Google,” says L. Gordon Crowitz in the Wall Street Journal.
“President Obama never delivered on his pledge early in his first term to craft broad immigration reform. He now risks alienating loyal supporters. A headline last week on the CNET technology website: ‘Obama Opposes Silicon Valley Firms on Immigration Reform,’ reporting him at odds with ‘many of the Silicon Valley firms and executives who bankrolled his re-election.'”
Diversity Lottery Elimination Enrages Usual Suspects
“[Rep. Gutierrez’s] statement [about the STEM Bill]reveals the true purpose of the Democrat’s immigration program is not to bring in persons most likely to be productive citizens, rather they are interested in bringing in people who are most likely to become government dependents if not actual wards,” says one poster at Redstate.com.
“More important, something that Mr. Gutierrez doesn’t seem to understand, is that there is no right to immigrate. Being allowed to live and work in the United States, and to eventually become a citizen, is a privilege granted to relatively few.”
Should the U.S. Copy Canada’s Immigration System?
“Canada’s provincial-nominee program, while not perfect, avoids the economically meaningless distinctions between skilled and unskilled workers that bedevil the employment-based U.S. immigration laws. It also puts in place incentives to treat foreign workers not as foes but as friends whose labor and skills are vital to the economy,” says Shikha Dalmia, an open-immigration supporter.
“Canada’s provincial-nominee program is the best model for the U.S. Under this system, 13 provincial entities sponsor a total of 75,000 worker-based permanent residencies a year, and the federal government in Ottawa offers 55,000. Each province can pick whomever it wants for whatever reason — in effect, to use its quota, which is based on population, to write its own immigration policy.”