Comprehensive Immigration Reform
(The Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act: S.1033 and H.R.2330)
4 Main messages
WE HAVE THE SOLUTION (Overarching theme)
· Polling has shown that the American public wants a real solution to the current immigration debate. 77% of Americans say they would support reform that includes border protections, a guestworker program with worker protections, a path to citizenship for the undocumented, and an end to the backlogs that separate families.
· The other side has no workable solutions. Deport 10 million undocumented immigrants working and paying taxes? Even they know that would be economic suicide. Put armed citizens on the border? No one is safer that way. We have a solution that makes sense.
· A guestworker program alone does not solve our current situation. Like any other public policy, we must plan into the future. People must be rewarded for their work and families must stay together. We must know who is in the country in order to protect our national security. We need comprehensive reform that address all aspects of this complicated debate.
FAMILY UNITY
· Our current system separates families. The parents of US born children can be deported and families torn apart for good. There is no path to citizenship for many working parents that are contributing to our country and economy.
· The immigration bureaucracy is inefficient and inhumane. Because of backlogs families are forced to wait years, even decades to be reunited with their loved ones. For example, US citizen from the Philippines would have to wait an average of 20 years to be united with a sibling.
NATIONAL SECURITY
· Everyone is safer when we know who is in the country. The current system allows for and even encourages a black market for workers and documents. This is bad for business, workers, and national security. The solution is to give people a way to work and live in the country legally, so that millions can come out of the shadows.
· Undocumented workers who live in fear are more reluctant to report crime and work with local police enforcement. We need a system that allows open lines of communication between communities.
JOBS and the ECONOMY
· The current system allows for and even encourages a black market for workers and documents. This is bad for business, workers, and national security.
· Undocumented workers do not have adequate worker protections.
Problem:
As advocates for immigrants, we need to step forward and define what the “problem” is. In this way, we are in a better position to define the “solution.”
The problem the American people are most concerned with is that nobody seems to be in control of immigration. America has always struggled with change, growth, and immigration, but our current immigration system is so broken, it appears to have no rules and nobody in charge.
This is very similar to the problem as seen by immigrant communities: that the immigration system is broken and it keeps families separated by borders, makes it hard to come here legally, creates incentives to come illegally, and drives many immigrants and their families into the black market for employment, smugglers, and documents, creating a fear of coming in contact with authorities. Good people are being thwarted by bad laws.
We therefore share a common concern, with even the hardcore anti-immigration movement – that the current immigration system is in desperate need of repair.
The Solution:
If the problem is the lack of a safe, orderly, and controlled immigration system, the solution is to reform our immigration laws to bring them more closely into alignment with the economic, social, and family realities that drive immigration.
In short, the demand for legal visas – not just by immigrants, but by employers seeking employees, families seeking to be reunited, and by immigrants seeking opportunity – is not met by the supply of legal visas in our overly restrictive, bureaucratic immigration system.
If we are going to gain control of our borders and our immigration system, we’ve got to reform our immigration laws so that more of the people who are coming can come legally and more of our scarce law enforcement and border patrol resources can be focused on keeping out people who might actually seek to do us harm (terrorists, drug smugglers, violent criminals etc.).
Turbo-charging the message: Who we are…
In addition to defining the problem and the solution, our messages can be much more effective if we remember to connect our messages to the people, communities, and the commonly held national values involved. We’ve got to connect this issue to core values that connect with the American people and immigrant communities.
We know that immigrants and their families build, clean, feed, and care for our country. They serve in its defense in the military and elsewhere. We trust immigrants with our children, our homes, our cars, our health care, the care of our elderly, and so many other things.
Today’s immigrants are seeking a better life for themselves and their families, just as everyone’s ancestors did when they left their place of birth seeking the American Dream. They have chosen to risk everything – even their lives – to come here to work, contribute, and seek opportunity.
When America lives up to its greatest ideals, it welcomes immigrants seeking a better life and incorporates them into our communities with rights, dignity, and within a controlled and legal system. America is a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws.
Why it matters to all Americans:
To these messages, we need to add an appeal to all Americans – immigrants and non-immigrants alike. We need to show why this matters and why our approach is better for all. We know what immigration reform will mean to immigrant communities, but we also know reform will be a benefit to the economy, to security, to order, to the rule of law, and to reestablishing America’s commitment to justice, inclusion, and a sense of shared destiny.
We must take this opportunity to stress that we have a better solution to fixing America’s broken immigration system.
(The Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act: S.1033 and H.R.2330)
4 Main messages
WE HAVE THE SOLUTION (Overarching theme)
· Polling has shown that the American public wants a real solution to the current immigration debate. 77% of Americans say they would support reform that includes border protections, a guestworker program with worker protections, a path to citizenship for the undocumented, and an end to the backlogs that separate families.
· The other side has no workable solutions. Deport 10 million undocumented immigrants working and paying taxes? Even they know that would be economic suicide. Put armed citizens on the border? No one is safer that way. We have a solution that makes sense.
· A guestworker program alone does not solve our current situation. Like any other public policy, we must plan into the future. People must be rewarded for their work and families must stay together. We must know who is in the country in order to protect our national security. We need comprehensive reform that address all aspects of this complicated debate.
FAMILY UNITY
· Our current system separates families. The parents of US born children can be deported and families torn apart for good. There is no path to citizenship for many working parents that are contributing to our country and economy.
· The immigration bureaucracy is inefficient and inhumane. Because of backlogs families are forced to wait years, even decades to be reunited with their loved ones. For example, US citizen from the Philippines would have to wait an average of 20 years to be united with a sibling.
NATIONAL SECURITY
· Everyone is safer when we know who is in the country. The current system allows for and even encourages a black market for workers and documents. This is bad for business, workers, and national security. The solution is to give people a way to work and live in the country legally, so that millions can come out of the shadows.
· Undocumented workers who live in fear are more reluctant to report crime and work with local police enforcement. We need a system that allows open lines of communication between communities.
JOBS and the ECONOMY
· The current system allows for and even encourages a black market for workers and documents. This is bad for business, workers, and national security.
· Undocumented workers do not have adequate worker protections.
Problem:
As advocates for immigrants, we need to step forward and define what the “problem” is. In this way, we are in a better position to define the “solution.”
The problem the American people are most concerned with is that nobody seems to be in control of immigration. America has always struggled with change, growth, and immigration, but our current immigration system is so broken, it appears to have no rules and nobody in charge.
This is very similar to the problem as seen by immigrant communities: that the immigration system is broken and it keeps families separated by borders, makes it hard to come here legally, creates incentives to come illegally, and drives many immigrants and their families into the black market for employment, smugglers, and documents, creating a fear of coming in contact with authorities. Good people are being thwarted by bad laws.
We therefore share a common concern, with even the hardcore anti-immigration movement – that the current immigration system is in desperate need of repair.
The Solution:
If the problem is the lack of a safe, orderly, and controlled immigration system, the solution is to reform our immigration laws to bring them more closely into alignment with the economic, social, and family realities that drive immigration.
In short, the demand for legal visas – not just by immigrants, but by employers seeking employees, families seeking to be reunited, and by immigrants seeking opportunity – is not met by the supply of legal visas in our overly restrictive, bureaucratic immigration system.
If we are going to gain control of our borders and our immigration system, we’ve got to reform our immigration laws so that more of the people who are coming can come legally and more of our scarce law enforcement and border patrol resources can be focused on keeping out people who might actually seek to do us harm (terrorists, drug smugglers, violent criminals etc.).
Turbo-charging the message: Who we are…
In addition to defining the problem and the solution, our messages can be much more effective if we remember to connect our messages to the people, communities, and the commonly held national values involved. We’ve got to connect this issue to core values that connect with the American people and immigrant communities.
We know that immigrants and their families build, clean, feed, and care for our country. They serve in its defense in the military and elsewhere. We trust immigrants with our children, our homes, our cars, our health care, the care of our elderly, and so many other things.
Today’s immigrants are seeking a better life for themselves and their families, just as everyone’s ancestors did when they left their place of birth seeking the American Dream. They have chosen to risk everything – even their lives – to come here to work, contribute, and seek opportunity.
When America lives up to its greatest ideals, it welcomes immigrants seeking a better life and incorporates them into our communities with rights, dignity, and within a controlled and legal system. America is a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws.
Why it matters to all Americans:
To these messages, we need to add an appeal to all Americans – immigrants and non-immigrants alike. We need to show why this matters and why our approach is better for all. We know what immigration reform will mean to immigrant communities, but we also know reform will be a benefit to the economy, to security, to order, to the rule of law, and to reestablishing America’s commitment to justice, inclusion, and a sense of shared destiny.
We must take this opportunity to stress that we have a better solution to fixing America’s broken immigration system.
posted by Noel at 8:47 PM
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