Are You Protected?

I recently ran across this article discussing the issue of undocumented children and if they deserve lawyers when facing deportation. ( http://www.newsmax.com/US/immigration-children-deportation-lawyers/2013/09/23/id/527209 ) Julie Woods the former head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says that these children should be provided with lawyers when going before an immigration judge. Illegal immigrants must pay for their own lawyers, public defenders are not provided to them. Wood writes into the Wall Street Journal arguing "For a nation founded on the principles of due process and access to justice, we are grievously violating both when it comes to deporting undocumented immigrant children." 

My question is are illegal immigrants protected by the rights guaranteed to American citizens? Not children whom were born in the United States to illegal immigrants... Are our rights extended to those who have come to the country illegally, and have been here for an extended period of time?

Do Not Forget About Immigration

Major corporations sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and Representative Nancy Pelosi to remind the House of Representatives not to forget about immigration. This letter was signed by 110 of the nations largest companies. The companies that signed were Verizon, Motorola, Walt Disney, Coca Cola, American Express, Proctor and Gamble just to name a few.

These major corporations want to see the House work with the Senate to enact some type of legislation this year. In the letter they stressed the need for immigration reform because many of the technology and "lesser-skilled" jobs are going unfilled because of mismatches in skills in the American labor force. These companies know that immigration reform will not be the answer to all the problems but it is a start. They are also calling for new visa programs for lower-skilled workers. This will put a boost on the economy, and it's not like immigrants are taking jobs from Americans, they are not qualified for them.

A lot of Republicans are in no hurry to pass immigration reform because they do not want to anger their constituents. Many of their constituents do realize that America does need to do something about the mass amount of illegal immigrants, passing immigration reform will also allow the party to gain new constituents. Sure some people will be upset but the long term goal looks better. The party took a hard hit this presidential election because they did not try to gain the latino vote (though they are not the only group looking a immigration reform).

Link to the article over at Washington Post (http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/10/business-leaders-tell-lawmakers-not-to-forget-about-immigration/?_r=0)

Will the House Discuss Immigration Reform?

Will immigration reform be put on the back burner because of other issues? Will Syria which came out of no where as well as a debt ceiling push immigration reform to the side for now?

Zuckerberg on Immigration

As you all know we discussed this week in Mass Media and Politics the question if media personalities are responsible for encouraging citizenship. Personally I don't think they should be responsible, but I think they should do it anyway.

If you didn't watch the video above it is Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook, which I'm sure everyone knows. Zuckerberg is discussing the topic of immigration reform, some of his experiences and why he supports it. He was teaching a class and asked his students one thing they were most worried about. One student raised his hand and stated he was afraid he could not attend college because he is undocumented. Zuckerberg then asked the class how many students were undocumented and about half of the class raised their hands. Zuckerberg states that a lot of our undocumented immigrants are going to be the entrepreneurs and innovators of the future. Maybe not all of the 11 million of the undocumented immigrants will be, but there is a good chance that many of them will.  He doesn't really go into depth about his website (fwd.us). Fwd.us is a lobbying group in support of immigration reform. I did find some information about it, he as well as Marissa Mayer, Bill Gates, and Eric Schmidt co wrote a letter to Congress supporting looser requirements for immigrants who have sought out science and technological backgrounds. They also support funds for improvement of math, science, and tech education. The letter also warns of the potential downside to the tech industry if immigration reform does not take place. The screen flashes to the audience once in a whole and you can see how big Zuckerbergs media personality is. The audience has their phones out taking pictures and recording his speech. It looks more like the announcement of a new apple product than a speech on immigration. People are interested because he is talking about it, versus their politicians. 

A major thing that stood out to me when he introduced his friend Jose and him missing the deadline for the Dream Act by four months. The screen cuts to the opening slide of his documentary and illegal immigrant is crossed out and under that is undocumented American. 

How do you feel about that?

Pathway to American Citizenship?

There hasn't been much talk about immigration, or anything else for that matter with all this focus on Syria. Once searching past all of that I did find some information on "The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act" or S. 744. This bill was introduced in the Senate on April 16, 2013 and then passed on June 27, 2013. It was written by the "Gang of Eight" which consisted of 4 Democrats and 4 Republicans, and it passed 68-32. The title is not the only thing long about this bill, it includes 844 pages worth of material. The bill is the U.S. government attempt at immigration reform. It includes a pathway for illegal immigrants to gain citizenship, adding more border patrol agents, and pushes the E- verify system harder. Something I found interesting is it also proposes new visas.

Most Americans are concerned with the pathway to citizenship for the illegal immigrants that are already here. The bill has passed in the Senate but now must make its way through the House of Representatives. I read an article on ABC News ( http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/immigration-bill-knot-special-citizenship-path-20129505 ). Both political parties can agree that something must be done about our 11 million illegal immigrants, but Democrats are proposing a "special pathway" for citizenship. Republican representatives are not to happy with that terminology. Rep. Jason Chaffetz told ABC 4 yes there should be a path to citizenship for them just not a special one. I can agree with that, there are large numbers of people who are seeking citizenship the legal way, why should someone who arrived here illegally be given a special process to gain citizenship?

September 9 is when Congress will resume and the bill will have to survive the House of Reps. The House is majority Republican and is lead by John Boehner. The media portrays Democrats as being for immigration, while Republicans typically oppose it. This would prove them right that the bill passed in the Senate, but would fail in the House of Reps, but I think the country is in desperate need of immigration reform. We have all seen how the media has portrayed him, so I will definitely be watching the outcome of this bill.