Colin Powell: Illegal immigrants do essential work in the U.S.

[truthwolf1]

Dream act immigration reform bill to be put to US Congress this weekDemocrats hope the bill, which will offer path to citizenship to 2m illegal immigrants, will win over Latinos before mid-term elections

Barack Obama promised during this presidential run that he would introduce legislation to provide the estimated 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants, most of them Latinos, with a route to citizenship but has so far failed to deliver. This measure, even if the chances of passage appear at this stage to be slim, would go part way towards achieving that.

Obama, responding to anger from Latino leaders this month at his failure to deliver on his pledge, urged them to get out and vote in November, and portrayed the Democrats as their friends and the Republicans as their enemies. He told Latinos not to forget "who is standing with you, and who is standing against you".

The Pentagon, struggling to maintain levels of recruitment in the face of troop demands in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, is among the backers of the bill.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...on-reform-bill

[WickedKitchen]

How can we, in good conscious, pay our citizens to do essentially NOTHING for TWO years and not force them to work. This crap about they are doing jobs that Americans won't do is just that...crap. There is a better alternative for the American unemployed. I understand the living wage and all that. I would even support benefits paid for this length of time (or another length of time) for those that are actually working. It would be of no additional cost to US employers 'cos the wages they pay would be similar (allbeit they would have to pay payroll taxes on the wages and insurance but our illustrious leaders could draft thousands of pages to compensate for that) and these people would actually be working. Moreso they may even learn a new skill and we'd have a better chance of our tax dollars staying in this country.

Sure this would displace many "workers" and crime would go up initially but if we crack the F down on it we could squelch it. Here in America we have our cake and are getting fat on it to boot. It simply cannot be sustained as a society. It cannot. There are bills being written to try to extend unemployment benefits more. I've read it takes 6 months to find a job though I'd argue it's closer to 8 months but it certainly doesn't take 2 years.

Workfare is a good idea IMO but, filling out applications is simply pushing paper. Looking for a job does not constitute working...producing. I cannot tell you how many of those I get on a regular basis.

Why also can we not force our prisoners to work while they are incarcerated? I can understand the arguments to the contrary more on this topic but it is similar. Don't even go and call it slave labor either. It's not.

Here's another whacked out story. I've got a good friend awaiting entrance to the Police Academy in NYC. He's had to have a good work record to even be considered yet they call him approximately 24 hours before he's expected to attend or he gets passed by. So he has to burn a bridge to get in which directly contradicts what they expect in an applicant. I know that's not what this thread is about but my typing made me think of this.

[sgreger1]

Dream act immigration reform bill to be put to US Congress this weekDemocrats hope the bill, which will offer path to citizenship to 2m illegal immigrants, will win over Latinos before mid-term elections

Barack Obama promised during this presidential run that he would introduce legislation to provide the estimated 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants, most of them Latinos, with a route to citizenship but has so far failed to deliver. This measure, even if the chances of passage appear at this stage to be slim, would go part way towards achieving that.

Obama, responding to anger from Latino leaders this month at his failure to deliver on his pledge, urged them to get out and vote in November, and portrayed the Democrats as their friends and the Republicans as their enemies. He told Latinos not to forget "who is standing with you, and who is standing against you".

The Pentagon, struggling to maintain levels of recruitment in the face of troop demands in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, is among the backers of the bill.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...on-reform-bill

And as per the usual, they are sneaking the Dream Act into a defense spending bill, so when republicans vote against amnesty the dems can say "Why do you hate the military? Why don't you want to support our troops??" When really they are voting against amnesty, but ofthe course the media will say that republicans voted against defense spending on our troops. Both sides LOVE pulling this older-than-dirt trick of tacking on unpopular legislation to defense appropriations bills.