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Monday, January 23, 2012

Immigrants


When the word immigrants come to mind, what type of person do you picture? Do you see a group of folk sneaking across the border from Mexico ready to steal jobs from American citizens?

Strangely I think Newt Gingrich provided some helpful insight on the issue of immigration in one of the Republican debates in which he defused some popular stereotypes, when he pointed out many of his party see 10 million sneaking across the border last night.

Here is some helpful data from the Pew Hispanic Center and non-partisan research center who finding I found in a recent issue of Christian Century. 35% of have been here for at least 15 years; another 28% at least 10 years; half are parents of children under 18 years old. 39% of them attend church of a regular basis. Thus the real image of an illegal immigrant is family oriented, hard working taxpaying, church going  deeply rooted in the U.S.A.

Gingrich said it absurd not to find a pathway for legal status for these people. His plan seems to be a bit arbitrary but it show a willingness and a sensibility to work on the issue. The silly part of his plan is you need to be here 25 years to qualify for his plan; why that number? So, he wants individual meetings with all these people by local panels and then they can become legal residency but not citizens – the right to vote. Weird, but better than most concepts from the right.

1 comment:

  1. Interesting post:
    "...ready to steal jobs from American citizens?"

    I see this type of rhetoric often. The people in question don't "Steal" jobs, but are better at them then others and earn them by being good at them. Those who use this rhetoric tend to be lousy at their jobs and want to ensure employment by draconian laws (rather than hard work, skills, and other indicators of real merit)

    "when he pointed out many of his party see 10 million sneaking across the border last night."

    They "sneak" because there are jobs available that they are good at. The real problem is not that they "sneak", but the system forces people to sneak in order to seek work.

    "Thus the real image of an illegal immigrant is family oriented, hard working taxpaying, church going deeply rooted in the U.S.A."

    That's my observation also. Sure, there are bad apples. and these should be deported, but they are a a minority.

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