Could Somebody Give Me The Stands Of Dems & Repugs On Immigration.......

[global1]

I'm sorry - but I spent a lot of time trying to understand the issues of Health Reform and Wall Street Reform and I'm really not up to speed with respect to immigration. How are the sides lining up? What do the Dems and Obama want to do on immigration and what is the Repug stand and is it completely contrary to the Dems? Is there room to come to some compromise on it? Any help to give me a better feel for the issues would be appreciated.

[SoCalDem]

1. It's a prickly issue on all sides

Arizona's governor played the Briar Patch Game with unusual finesse. She lobbed that law right into Obama's lap, knowing that he would HAVE to make a response, and to the teaparty folks, it was red meat into the tiger's cage..

By having the law take effect in July, she guaranteed that any legal action would play out during the election.

and it is..

Dems generally feel that people who are already here and are contributing, SHOULD have a "path to citizenship", and since new citizens often tend to be democratic in their thinking, and dependent to a degree on government services, they are more likely to register ASAP and will usually vote democratic..

Republicans see this as THE reason why dems "go easy" on immigration issues.

THEY, of the guns, god, war, law & order philosophy see only black & white on issues like this. the "white" is the nearly free labor for their companies, but the "black" is that these young strong men who put on the roofs & do the heavy lifting, will eventually put down roots & create families, and they don't like that at all..Young families mean taxes for new schools & the need for services that many young families need.

No one really wants to handle the thorny issue "fore real", so everyone looks away and exploits the particular part of the issue they like, and ignores the rest of it.

[Laelth]

2. Neither party intends to do ANYTHING about immigration.

Too many wealthy interests love that cheap labor, and they will not allow either party to do anything substantial to stop the flow of cheap labor into the United States.

As such, immigration is just a wedge issue. One party, in particular, likes to drum up popular outrage with it, but neither party intends to do anything about it.

-Laelth

[obxhead]

3. Currently it is only mentioned during election cycles to gain

a portion of the immigrant community votes.

Neither party is serious about any legislation on immigration as it is such a volatile debate.

[Laelth]

6. By definition, the immigrant community can't vote.

I think it far more likely that the "immigration" issue is trotted out to create outrage and secure the votes of American citizens, not immigrants. And while I agree that neither party intends to do anything about this issue, it's not because it's "volatile." It's because the big-money interests that control both parties want to preserve the flow of cheap labor.

-Laelth

[jody]

7. Good point but once immigrants are naturalized they may be able to vote twice, once in the US and

again in their home country; e.g. Israel, Iran, Iraq, Mexico.

That dual citizenship and dual voting right may extend to children born in the United States to parents with dual citizenship.

[obxhead]

8. I agree the cheap labor is a huge point as well, but

plenty of legal immigrants are allowed to vote. Many of them have family or friends who may be illegal or planning to still come and the issue is closely watched by them.

[jody]

4. Do you mean positions on legal aliens or illegal aliens? Not surprisingly voters do recognize the

difference.

[Lasher]

5. Check out McCain, he lines up everywhere.

And nowhere.