Post by unlawflcombatnt on Sept 6, 2008 17:30:35 GMT -6
Below is the 1-page of the Democratic Party platform devoted to Immigration. I've just quoted the whole page, and saved my specific comments afterwards.
www.demconvention.com/assets/downloads/2008-Democratic-Platform-by-Cmte-08-13-08.pdf
Immigration Platform, page 45 (47 on screen)
"America has always been a nation of immigrants. Over the years, millions of people have come here in the hope that in America, you can make it if you try. Each successive wave of
immigrants has contributed to our country’s rich culture, economy and spirit. Like the immigrants that came before them, today’s immigrants will shape their own destinies and enrich our country.
Nonetheless, our current immigration system has been broken for far too long. We need comprehensive immigration reform, not just piecemeal efforts. We must work together to pass immigration reform in a way that unites this country, not in a way that divides us by playing on our worst instincts and fears. We are committed to pursuing tough, practical, and humane immigration reform in the first year of the next administration.
We cannot continue to allow people to enter the United States undetected, undocumented, and unchecked. The American people are a welcoming and generous people, but those who enter
our country’s borders illegally, and those who employ them, disrespect the rule of the law. We need to secure our borders, and support additional personnel, infrastructure, and technology on the border and at our ports of entry. We need additional Customs and Border Protection agents equipped with better technology and real-time intelligence. We need to dismantle human smuggling organizations, combating the crime associated with this trade. We also need to do more to promote economic development in migrant-sending nations, to reduce incentives to
come to the United States illegally. And we need to crack down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants. It’s a problem when we only enforce our laws against the immigrants themselves, with raids that are ineffective, tear apart families, and leave people detained without adequate access to counsel. We realize that employers need a method to verify whether their employees are legally eligible to work in the United States, and we will ensure that our system is accurate, fair to legal workers, safeguards people’s privacy, and cannot be used to discriminate against workers.
We must also improve the legal immigration system, and make our nation’s naturalization process fair and accessible to the thousands of legal permanent residents who are eager to
become full Americans. We should fix the dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy that hampers family reunification, the cornerstone of our immigration policy for years. Given the importance of both keeping families together and supporting American businesses, we will increase the number of immigration visas for family members of people living here and for immigrants who meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill, as long as appropriate labor market protections and standards are in place. We will fight discrimination against Americans who have always played by our immigration rules but are sometimes treated as if they had not.
For the millions living here illegally but otherwise playing by the rules, we must require them to come out of the shadows and get right with the law. We support a system that requires
undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, pay taxes, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens. They are our neighbors, and
we can help them become full tax-paying, law-abiding, productive members of society."
_________________
Here are some thoughts on this
On this, I agree completely. Unfortunately, it's the only part of the immigration platform I agree with.
We have an excellent system in place right now to determine the legality of workers.It's called E-verify, and it is free to employers. It appears, however, that many elected Democrats oppose E-verify, using false claims of inaccuracy to justify their opposition.
You've gotta be kidding!
What labor demand cannot be filled by Americans?? We have 89 million working age Americans not employed at present. Meanwhile, we've lost over 600,000 jobs in 2008 alone. We've lost a net total of over -470,000 jobs since the beginning of 2007, while our Working Age Population has increased by over 4 million. In other words, the "supply" of labor has increased by 4 million, while the demand has declined by -470K (since the end of 2006.) We don't have any labor "shortage." And many of those job losses are in highly skilled areas, including technology and engineering. We're graduating far more Americans in engineering and high-tech fields than the jobs being created in those industries. There is NO labor shortage. There is only a "cheap" labor shortages, a shortage of easily exploitable and powerless workers, and a shortage of American employers willing to pay the free-market price for American labor.
Who, exactly, are they talking about?
The people being "discriminated against" are the American workers who cannot survive working for the sub-market wages of illegal immigrant workers and "legal" H1B workers.
No, they are not just our neighbors. They're our competitors for the limited number of jobs in the US labor market. (And they're illegal competitors at that. It's like having our labor supply growth on steroids.)
Illegal immigrant workers are the equivalent of union-busting scabs. They undercut American workers' on wages. The only "help" they provide is to Corporate America by suppressing worker compensation. They lower wages, by both suppressing wages by increasing the labor supply, as well as from their willingness to work for sub-market level wages. (There are over 7 million illegal immigrants working in the US, out of the 145 million currently employed workers in this country.)
How the Democratic Party can insert such garbage in their party platform is beyond me. They're simply trying to curry favor with rich Corporate donors, with no regard at all for the Democratic Party rank-and-file. It's all about getting campaign contributions from rich donors, rather than serving the interests of the majority of party members. It is their view that if they raise enough money, they can brainwash their rank-and-file inton voting for them.
www.demconvention.com/assets/downloads/2008-Democratic-Platform-by-Cmte-08-13-08.pdf
Immigration Platform, page 45 (47 on screen)
"America has always been a nation of immigrants. Over the years, millions of people have come here in the hope that in America, you can make it if you try. Each successive wave of
immigrants has contributed to our country’s rich culture, economy and spirit. Like the immigrants that came before them, today’s immigrants will shape their own destinies and enrich our country.
Nonetheless, our current immigration system has been broken for far too long. We need comprehensive immigration reform, not just piecemeal efforts. We must work together to pass immigration reform in a way that unites this country, not in a way that divides us by playing on our worst instincts and fears. We are committed to pursuing tough, practical, and humane immigration reform in the first year of the next administration.
We cannot continue to allow people to enter the United States undetected, undocumented, and unchecked. The American people are a welcoming and generous people, but those who enter
our country’s borders illegally, and those who employ them, disrespect the rule of the law. We need to secure our borders, and support additional personnel, infrastructure, and technology on the border and at our ports of entry. We need additional Customs and Border Protection agents equipped with better technology and real-time intelligence. We need to dismantle human smuggling organizations, combating the crime associated with this trade. We also need to do more to promote economic development in migrant-sending nations, to reduce incentives to
come to the United States illegally. And we need to crack down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants. It’s a problem when we only enforce our laws against the immigrants themselves, with raids that are ineffective, tear apart families, and leave people detained without adequate access to counsel. We realize that employers need a method to verify whether their employees are legally eligible to work in the United States, and we will ensure that our system is accurate, fair to legal workers, safeguards people’s privacy, and cannot be used to discriminate against workers.
We must also improve the legal immigration system, and make our nation’s naturalization process fair and accessible to the thousands of legal permanent residents who are eager to
become full Americans. We should fix the dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy that hampers family reunification, the cornerstone of our immigration policy for years. Given the importance of both keeping families together and supporting American businesses, we will increase the number of immigration visas for family members of people living here and for immigrants who meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill, as long as appropriate labor market protections and standards are in place. We will fight discrimination against Americans who have always played by our immigration rules but are sometimes treated as if they had not.
For the millions living here illegally but otherwise playing by the rules, we must require them to come out of the shadows and get right with the law. We support a system that requires
undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, pay taxes, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens. They are our neighbors, and
we can help them become full tax-paying, law-abiding, productive members of society."
_________________
Here are some thoughts on this
On this, I agree completely. Unfortunately, it's the only part of the immigration platform I agree with.
We have an excellent system in place right now to determine the legality of workers.It's called E-verify, and it is free to employers. It appears, however, that many elected Democrats oppose E-verify, using false claims of inaccuracy to justify their opposition.
You've gotta be kidding!
What labor demand cannot be filled by Americans?? We have 89 million working age Americans not employed at present. Meanwhile, we've lost over 600,000 jobs in 2008 alone. We've lost a net total of over -470,000 jobs since the beginning of 2007, while our Working Age Population has increased by over 4 million. In other words, the "supply" of labor has increased by 4 million, while the demand has declined by -470K (since the end of 2006.) We don't have any labor "shortage." And many of those job losses are in highly skilled areas, including technology and engineering. We're graduating far more Americans in engineering and high-tech fields than the jobs being created in those industries. There is NO labor shortage. There is only a "cheap" labor shortages, a shortage of easily exploitable and powerless workers, and a shortage of American employers willing to pay the free-market price for American labor.
Who, exactly, are they talking about?
The people being "discriminated against" are the American workers who cannot survive working for the sub-market wages of illegal immigrant workers and "legal" H1B workers.
No, they are not just our neighbors. They're our competitors for the limited number of jobs in the US labor market. (And they're illegal competitors at that. It's like having our labor supply growth on steroids.)
Illegal immigrant workers are the equivalent of union-busting scabs. They undercut American workers' on wages. The only "help" they provide is to Corporate America by suppressing worker compensation. They lower wages, by both suppressing wages by increasing the labor supply, as well as from their willingness to work for sub-market level wages. (There are over 7 million illegal immigrants working in the US, out of the 145 million currently employed workers in this country.)
How the Democratic Party can insert such garbage in their party platform is beyond me. They're simply trying to curry favor with rich Corporate donors, with no regard at all for the Democratic Party rank-and-file. It's all about getting campaign contributions from rich donors, rather than serving the interests of the majority of party members. It is their view that if they raise enough money, they can brainwash their rank-and-file inton voting for them.