This is another story where the reporter misrepresents the immigration issue. He is describing “immigrants” as if those he is referring to cam here with documents and honestly. Yet, when you read the story, he is writing about criminals, people who knowingly violate our laws. Even the attorneys for the illegal aliens try to confuse the issue.
“Altman, an attorney and immigrant advocate based in Modesto. “Twenty percent of all unauthorized immigrants live in California.”
That 20 percent is roughly 2 million of the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants nationwide. Those undocumented workers make up many - sometimes most - of the workers in particular sectors, particularly farm and janitorial work. “I think people need to understand how important immigration reform is to California,” said Solange.”
Let me make it clear—we want immigrants to come to our nation, under the law and following our laws. The others violate our laws and harm our economy and honest families==of all races and national origin. The media must truthfully report the facts—not pretend to be defense attorneys for illegal aliens.
Advocates: Reform can help immigrants fulfill their potential
By Dana M. Nichols, Stockton Record, 4/20/14
STOCKTON - Immigrants feed California, and divide it. Immigrants and the children of immigrants are among California’s most beloved heroes (think astronaut Jose Hernandez, who completed some of his early higher education at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton) and yet are often treated under federal laws as reviled outcasts.
Immigration, particularly accelerating waves of immigration from Mexico in recent decades, has shaped California in profound ways, providing the human labor to boost economic growth, defining the way we see our ethnic identities and coloring our political debates.
And now, just as Latinos have become the state’s largest ethnic group, there is the prospect that proposed federal immigration reform could allow many illegal immigrants among them to come out of the shadows.
Timeline
1848: The Mexican-American War ends, and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo grants U.S. citizenship to an estimated 50,000 to 80,000 Mexican residents of the territory the U.S. conquered, many of them in what would two years later become the state of California.
1882: After the U.S. passes the Chinese Exclusion Act, some Mexican immigrants come to California to work on railroads and in other jobs formerly done by Chinese workers.
1924: The first U.S. Border Patrol operations begin on the U.S.-Mexican border.
1942: With World War II, the economy boomed and labor was in demand again. The U.S. government made agreements with Mexico to allow guest workers into the country under the Bracero program.
1986: The federal Immigration Reform and Control Act grants legal status to undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. before 1982 and requires employers to verify the immigration status of their workers.
1994: Voters approve Proposition 187, which barred illegal immigrants from receiving health care, public education and other services. It later was overturned.
2012: The Obama administration decides not to deport immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children and who meet other requirements. The “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” grants successful applicants a two-year permit to work but does not provide them a path to permanent residency or citizenship.
2013: Gov. Jerry Brown signs laws allowing both DACA permit holders and other undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.
“With the proposal coming, I will be able to help a lot of people,” said Elias Mendoza, an immigration law attorney who operates an office in Stockton.
Right now, Mendoza said, he turns away 90 percent of the undocumented immigrants who come to him for help because they simply don’t qualify under current law to get residency.
A large proportion of Latinos are not U.S. citizens, and many of those noncitizens are not legal residents.
A report issued in January by the Latino Caucus of the California Legislature found that 40 percent of Latinos in the state are foreign-born and 28 percent of the foreign-born Latinos are not citizens.
Advocates for reform say giving legal status to immigrants will unleash their potential, allowing them to seek education and better jobs and to contribute even more to the state’s economy.
Altman, an attorney and immigrant advocate based in Modesto. “Twenty percent of all unauthorized immigrants live in California.”
That 20 percent is roughly 2 million of the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants nationwide. Those undocumented workers make up many - sometimes most - of the workers in particular sectors, particularly farm and janitorial work. “I think people need to understand how important immigration reform is to California,” said Solange
Some familiar with immigration law say the proposed reforms that have passed in the U.S. Senate and await action in the House are deeply flawed.
“It will create almost a subclass, like what happened in South Africa,” Altman said. That’s because many who may be allowed to stay and work without fear of deportation will have to clear almost impossible hurdles to gain permanent residency or citizenship.
Among those hurdles are requirements in the law that the nation must first build a 700-mile fence along the Mexican border and also have a universal verification system for employers to check the immigration status of workers before they can receive permanent residency.
For centuries we came forth upon this continent to uphold the law (as American citizens);
now we have those who came here to break the law
(Including Obama who is not natural born citizen …).
April 21, 2014 at 6:32 am