Kucinich on immigrants' rights
The following is taken from the Kucinich campaign website's issues page on immigrant rights.
***
Our country is a nation of immigrants. They have enriched our heritage and enlivened our culture. As millions of newcomers continue to work hard, raise families, serve in our armed forces, and study at universities, the Bush administration has waged an assault on immigrants' rights. Undocumented workers have been left in legal limbo, while local police forces have been pressured against their will to hunt down undocumented workers, jeopardizing their relationships with immigrant communities. Thousands of immigrants have been detained in secret, denied due process and deported.
In the economic sphere, undocumented workers have become convenient scapegoats. Yet the reality, as shown in study after study, is that they pay more in taxes than they receive in government services.
Welcoming immigrants to our shores is one of our country's vital traditions -- the heart and soul of the American dream. In Congress, Rep. Kucinich has co-sponsored a number of bills to help immigrants, including the Family Unity Legalization Act, which allows those who have been in the country for over five years to legalize their status. Among other legislation in this area: He co-sponsored a bill supportive of refugees from Columbia and Peru, and a bill helping nationals from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Haiti to become permanent residents.
A Kucinich administration will honor this welcoming legacy by legalizing the status of hard-working, tax-paying undocumented workers in the U.S. It will clear out the backlog in the naturalization process so that those who are eligible to become citizens can do so without endless delays. It will offer immigrants a clear road map to citizenship, so that they can become fully participating members of our communities. And it will work with our partners in Mexico to regularize the flow of immigrants by forging an agreement on migration.
We cannot continue with a system in which millions of workers and their families live in fear and are subject to economic exploitation. There is no place in our country for second-class status. A Kucinich administration will restore respect for the rights and contributions of immigrants.
Subscribe to this blog's feed