Once before in Boynton when a group of Haitians had washed up on shore. I stepped over the body of a naked pregnant Haitian woman and I thought to myself. my God. what kind of courage does it take to ti to get away from despotism. to try to get away from political turmoil. to get on a boat and come here the way that she and others that died in that event had done? In no way do I or any Member of this body. that is Republican or Democrat. condone illegal immigration. but if Congress is going to have this debate. we ought to consider why people are willing to risk their lives to come to the United States. It is not always to bilk our social programs or to steal an American job. it is for all of the things that Emma Lazarus. and President Bush described her emblem being at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. and President Bush speaking there. as I quoted earlier. It is for safety and for security and for a better life. Building a fence around the country. which some have advocated. is not going to deter people from coming here illegally. but reforming a system which requires literally years to process work visa applications will. Authorizing more border security personnel also will not deter people from coming here illegally. but ending doublestandard immigration policies will. Yesterday I talked about how much hypocrisy exists inside our immigration measures. We have wet foot. dry foot. up foot. down foot. all kinds of policies that seem to come at the whim of whomever the director is at any given time. be they Democrat or Republican. The system is broken.
Keywords matched
immigration border security illegal immigration work visa