Guest Column
Leadership needed right now on immigration
- Undocumented workers
- By Mary Sanchez
- Kansas City Star
- April 4, 2006
- But please, do it now.
- To reach Mary Sanchez, call (816) 234-4752 or send e-mail to msanchez@kcstar.com.
- http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/columnists/mary_sanchez/14255857.htm
Mr. President, you do not need a speechwriter for this situation. You understand immigration better than any president in recent history. No one has served at such a crucial moment. The situation is dire, with at least 12 million people living and working in the country without the right paperwork.
Please, Mr. President, show some leadership.
The country is begging for immigration reform. We do not need the “Kumbaya” or “Can’t we all get along” commentary you have been offering. We need forceful, memorable words along the lines of “The buck stops here.”
We need bully-pulpit commentary to halt the people using immigration for personal, not national, gain.
Stymie the politicians latching on, hoping to sound tough on immigration to gain points with uninformed voters. Counter the television pundits ratcheting up ratings by telling people what they want to hear, as opposed to what they need to hear.
Redirect the Latino students, whose priority ought to be in staying in school, from skipping classes to march in protest rallies. Bring some sanity to the situation, please.
The Senate and House are poised to verbally annihilate each other and still not pass true reform measures.
The House may not budge from enforcement-only provisions. The Senate is ready with a well-rounded, sensible approach but may soon be backed into an opposing corner.
Mr. President, you do not need a speechwriter for this situation.
You understand immigration better than any president in recent history. No one has served at such a crucial moment. The situation is dire, with at least 12 million people living and working in the country without the right paperwork.
Mexico is becoming increasingly dependent on the money its nationals send home — $20 billion last year. Mexico cannot build a healthier future with so much of its prime labor force out of the country.
Nearly every state legislature is struggling with immigration, which is a federal issue at its core.
Thousands of people, mostly Latinos, took to U.S. streets in recent weeks; 700 in Seattle; 100,000 in Chicago; 20,000 in Milwaukee; 1,000 in Trenton, N.J.; 4,000 in Portland, Ore.; 40,000 at the U.S. Capitol; and 2,000 in Kansas City.
Many were the masses that for so long we have claimed are underground, happy to do the bidding of U.S. employers.
The truth is, they are not silent. They are not invisible. And they will not go away.
But many are not well integrated into society. Too many have not learned English yet. And we’ve allowed far too many employers to exploit their labor.
Do not let the House call them felons while most Americans also expect them to mow the lawn, prepare our food and care for our children.
The rallies were a cry for help. Do not let these protests grow more fervent. People do crazy things when they feel backed into a corner.
See the Minuteman movement as an example. In describing the recent peaceful protests on their Web site, they use the words “demons of disorder,” “occupying army” and “anarchy and insurrection,” and warn of a “disaster of epic proportions.”
Squelch these irrational voices, Mr. President.
Calling them vigilantes is not effective. Acknowledging valid concerns is in order.
But do not put up with people who make statements about “closing the border.” Remind them that Mexico is the second-largest trading partner of the United States.
Do not hide behind the fact that you inherited this problem. President Ronald Reagan shouldn’t have awarded amnesty in 1986 without doing more to decrease the numbers still entering the country.
And Congress shouldn’t have given employers the ability to claim they didn’t “knowingly” hire illegal immigrants to avoid fines.
The Department of Homeland Security still is not equipped by budget, structure or law to enforce sanctions against employers who hire workers without the right paperwork.
All the talk about guest workers, including your trial balloons, will go nowhere without a working system to actually monitor who comes and goes.
Solutions must be long-term, and include beefing up security and overhauling the way visas are granted. Many people are illegal largely because there is not a legal way for most of them to enter the country. Yet we keep coaxing them here with jobs. That is a shameful double standard.
This could be your lasting legacy to America. Do the right thing, Mr. President.
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