2010 Immigration Reform

More than a few Americans would argue that illegal immigration has become a problem over the years. While the US does have the nickname, “the melting pot of the world”, immigrating to the US requires a lot of legal documentation and application.


Immigration.

What is it?

Many people immigrate from less fortunate countries to the United States on the premise that they will be able to make more money and start a life living the American dream, or just send the money back to their homeland.

How Many?

It is said that there is approximately 12 million undocumented workers in the US.

Why?

Hiring an undocumented worker is a practice used by some employers because it saves them money. They do not have to pay to L&I, or any taxes or anything else that they would pay for a documented employee. Because there is a demand for this cheap form of labor it is hard to stop people immigrating illegally into the US.

2010 Immigration Reform:

In a summary the 2010 Immigration reform seems simple. With a six part plan the US hopes to crack down on incoming immigrants, document or deport all undocumented illegal immigrants, and Integrate Immigrants into US society. Here is a quick summary of the six parts.

1. Improve Border Security: By doing this it will be harder for Illegal Immigrants to cross the US border. On the contrary, it will be more difficult and time consuming to ship things into the US and when it comes to items that are perishable, this could see difficulties.

2. Interior Enforcement: This would drastically increase penalties for offenders who illegally enter the US. Although the penalties would be greater, they would be administered in a humane and lawful way with special regards to children.

3. Worksite Enforcement: This part of the reform will encourage employers to hire lawfully because there are consequences for hiring an illegal immigrant.

4. Reforming America’s Legal Immigration System: By doing this the only people who would be likely to immigrate successfully would be people of value to the US.

5. Legalization of Undocumented Individuals: This will allow undocumented workers the chance to gain a visa for a set amount of time or also permanent citizenship. In addition to the processing fees, a person over 21 will pay a $1,000 fine. This will help to greatly reduce the estimated 12 million undocumented workers.

6. Immigrant Integration: This part is for the immigrants that are granted citizenship. There will be expanded sources of education to improve literacy of immigrants trying to integrate into American society. This will help communication among new immigrants and current citizens and hopefully reduce frustrations caused by the language barrier.


Rossi v. Murray
Dino Rossi’s Position: Dino Rossi feels that the first thing we need to do is fix our border security. His thought is that once we stop the flow of illegal immigrants we can then deal with the rest of the problem. He does not feel that we should grant illegal Immigrants citizen ship as he thinks they should immigrate legally juts like he and his family did from Italy.

Patty Murrays Position: Patty Murray more openly accepts the Comprehensive Immigration Reform.


This reform is still undergoing consideration by congress. In my opinion I think this reform is very well done and should be implemented but we will just have to wait and see what happens.

--Ryan Fromm & Sara Lien