Join Date: May 2003
Location: Dallas/Ft. Worth area of Texas, USA
Age: 33
Posts: 17,137
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Kerry waffles on illegal aliens...
Two stories on Kerry. In one he's pro-illegal and in the other he's
pro-enforcement!
Kerry vows action for migrants
Promises to ease citizenship within first 100 days in office
By Jon Kamman
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), June 30, 2004
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepu...30kerry30.html
Quote:
Sen. John Kerry pledged Tuesday in Phoenix that within 100 days of
becoming president he would ask Congress for immigration reforms that
would put undocumented immigrants on a path toward U.S. citizenship
and establish a guest-worker program for temporary labor.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee's proposal for "earned
legalization" brought cheers from a highly partisan audience of more
than 4,000 members of the National Council of La Raza.
The nation's largest civil rights group is an advocate for the
nation's rapidly growing Hispanic population, which, at more than 38.8
million members, recently became the nation's largest minority group.
Kerry's speech closed out a five-day convention that drew more than
20,000 participants and made Phoenix, in effect, the Latino power
center of the nation.
"Our immigration system is broken," Kerry told the crowd at Phoenix
Civic Plaza.
"Hundreds of people seeking only a better life for their children die
terrible deaths in the desert," he said. "Millions live in the shadows
of our country, frightened, exploited and often abused."
Although short on specifics, the speech was Kerry's first elaboration
on his campaign's general theme that hardworking, taxpaying and
law-abiding immigrants should have an opportunity to become legal
residents.
In broad terms, the Kerry measure did not appear to differ greatly
from a bill sponsored in both chambers of Congress by a trio of
Arizona Republicans: Reps. Jim Kolbe and Jeff Flake and Sen. John
McCain.
President Bush late last year also proposed immigration reforms, but
his plan, never set forth in specific legislation, would not give
unlawful border crossers a chance to become citizens without returning
first to their home countries.
Bush campaign spokesman Danny Diaz said Kerry was "being very
disingenuous with voters" on the immigration issue because only two of
the 314 measures he has sponsored as a Massachusetts senator have
dealt with immigration issues.
"The president has a record of accomplishment that relates to
Hispanics," Diaz said, citing programs aimed at "quality schools, good
homes, good-paying jobs and a safe and secure environment."
But Kerry's national campaign co-chairman, Los Angeles City Councilman
Antonio Villaraigosa, said, "If Bush was supportive, he would have
pushed an earned legalization program by now. If he wanted it, it
would have been done."
Under Kerry's plan, immigrants would qualify for legal residency, the
first step toward citizenship, after five years in this country and
close screening for security purposes.
Kerry's administration also would fund English and civics classes to
help qualifying immigrants assimilate.
At the same time, a limited number of temporary workers would be
allowed into the country to work under the protections of labor laws,
including wage standards, that apply to U.S. citizens.
Kerry said he also would make it easier for immigrants' families,
divided by a border, to reunite. Even workers legally in this country
face long waits for visas so their immediate families can join them or
they jeopardize their own immigration status if they return to their
home country.
Kerry said he would tighten border security through a cooperative
effort with Mexico and by developing a reliable "watch list" for
criminals or terrorists trying to enter the country.
His first steps on immigration would be to sign "in a heartbeat" two
measures that have bipartisan backing in Congress but have not won
solid support from the Bush administration.
The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors, or DREAM,
Act, sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, would give undocumented
youths living and attending schools in the United States the right to
stay in the country to go to college if they met other qualifications.
The AgJobs bill, sponsored by Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and 62 Senate
co-sponsors, would ensure rights and offer employee and environmental
protections for law-abiding farmworkers.
In his 45-minute speech and in answers to four questions from the
audience, Kerry also hammered on domestic issues of education, health
care, employment and energy independence.
He said the Bush administration has either mishandled the issues or
sacrificed them to a "credo of greed" that gives major tax breaks to
people with annual incomes above $200,000.
Hispanic unemployment has risen more than 30 percent in the past three
years, he said, and 1.4 million Hispanics are jobless.
"Those finally getting jobs are being paid an average of $9,000 less a
year," he said.
Nearly one-fourth of Hispanic children are growing up without health
insurance, and the overall uninsured rate for Hispanics is about 1 in
3, Kerry said.
"Under my health plan, we will cover every child in America and 95
percent of adults," he said.
Kerry said that, in the more than three years since Bush took office,
his administration has not developed a plan for health care.
In a slap at Bush's credibility, he added, "They don't even have a
fake plan, which you would expect from this administration."
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2.
Kerry Opposes Licenses for Migrants
By Maria L. La Ganga
Los Angeles Times, July 1, 2004
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,3379534.story
Quote:
PITTSBURGH -- Sen. John F. Kerry said he opposed giving driver's
licenses to illegal immigrants, taking a hard-line position on a
controversial issue hours after he vowed to champion immigration
reform during a speech to Latino leaders in Phoenix.
In comments to the Spanish-language network Telemundo late Tuesday,
the Democratic presidential candidate said he thought granting
licenses to those in the country illegally violated the spirit of the
law.
"I think that driver's licenses are part of the legality of being
here, and if you've been here a period of time we may work something
out as part of that immigration process," he said in the interview
after addressing the National Council of La Raza's annual conference.
"But I wouldn't give somebody who is automatically one year in here
illegally all the rights and privileges of being here legally," he
said. "I think that's wrong. That defeats the purposes of the law."
Addressing the Latino activist organization Tuesday afternoon, Kerry
said he would introduce a comprehensive immigration reform bill in his
first 100 days as president, creating a pathway to citizenship for
law-abiding workers in the country illegally, speeding family
reunification and enforcing existing laws protecting the border.
Kerry has actively courted the Latino and African American vote in
recent days, and Tuesday he received standing ovations at both the La
Raza conference and at a convention in Chicago of Rainbow/PUSH, the
civil rights group headed by the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson.
But Kerry's comments regarding driver's licenses could hurt his
standing among Latino voters.
The debate over granting licenses to undocumented workers helped
unseat Gov. Gray Davis in California's recall election last year.
Davis had signed legislation making it legal for undocumented
immigrants to get licenses in the months leading up to the recall.
Soon after taking office, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger repealed the law.
Kerry also took a tough stance in the Telemundo interview when asked
his opinion about raids by immigration authorities. He said those in
the country illegally — but who follow the law, pay taxes and are
raising a family — should be able to attain citizenship. But Kerry
said he had no sympathy for illegal immigrants who broke other laws.
"If you've broken the law — and you don't have the situation where you
have family and you've paid taxes — and you're in illegal status,
you're in illegal status," he said.
Kerry, a former prosecutor, added: "I've always believed the law has
to mean something."
+++
Kerry: No Licenses for Illegal Immigrants
By Nedra Pickler
The Associated Press, June 30, 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2004Jun30.html
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07-03-2004, 08:55 PM
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