The Immigrant's Contribution to the Greatness of America

I am a conservative Republican by nature but I disagree with the many of my republican
colleagues as it concerns immigration reform. I am one who recognizes that many of
us, who call ourselves “American” are decedents of immigrant parents or grandparent.
In fact this great country and some of the greatest companies have been built in large
part o the immigrant population. For example, Henry Ford, a son of an Irish-born father,
created the eighth-largest company on the Fortune 500 list. Roughly four of every ten
Fortune 500 companies were founded by new immigrants to the United States or their
children. (Partnership for a New Economy)

I recognize the need to try and secure our borders but we also need to be realistic, it does
not matter how much we spend to seal our borders, they will never be 100% impermeable
to those who would desire to enter illegally. Increase border security, I am all for it. But,
the problem still exists as to what to do with those who are here.
However, for decades, both democrats and republicans have turned a blind eye to illegal
immigration, why? Because this country has benefited from the immigrant workforce to
deliver, primarily our agricultural needs, at a reasonable price. Immigrants do not take
work away from American. They perform work that most of us do not want to do or will
not do. This has been evidenced from farmers and ranchers across the nation who have
tried to hire local help.

Congress and the Senate need to work together towards immigration reform. It needs to
be comprehensive to fix an antiquated immigration system. Congress needs to provide
funding for technology and personnel to strengthen border security. It needs to expedite
the immigration application process. There is no reason why a family based petition
should take 18 years to process. Congress needs to create a program for those who are
here illegally to come out of the shadows and register and be given permission to remain
and work in this country under certain conditions. The concept that we simply need to
deport everyone is moronic and impossible. The government could not even evacuate the
city of New Orleans during hurricane Katrina, how can we possibly expect it to find and
round up everyone? We can’t and it is not going to happen.

Republicans are often viewed as obstructionist to immigration reform. Republicans
would benefit from passage of the Immigration Innovation Act. This act has been in the
U.S. Senate for two years. It would expand both high tech visa and green card access.
The house should draft its own version of the act and have it pass. Then it would be sent
to the Senate, which is currently controlled by the democrats for passage and then sent to
the President for signing into law. If they didn’t then it would show which party is really
playing politics with immigration. This way, republicans could start changing the debate
about immigration and start coming out ahead rather than always on the short end of the
stick.

Ken Braun’s article “Republicans Should send to the President a “high skill”
immigration reform bill” has been the basis of this article.