LatinaLista — In reading all the headlines regarding Obama’s first State of the Union address, it’s easy to see that everyone has their own idea of what Obama should talk about.
While some of the topics he will cover have been leaked to the press, like banning the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for gays and lesbians serving in the military or a domestic spending freeze or even a new bio-terrorism response, only one other topic has been teased — meaning it was said that Obama would mention it in his speech but not given a clue as to what he will say.
The topic is immigration.
Can’t really blame the White House for teasing the topic. It probably has more to do with prepping opponents of illegal immigration and steering off any shouts of “You lie” than trying to dangle the proverbial carrot in front of Latinos anxious for any kind of clue to the White House’s timetable on immigration reform.
Yet, it’s hoped Obama’s mention of immigration reform in his State of the Union is more than just another tease or wishful thinking on his part.
It’s time Obama takes the same kind of action that saw thousands of new and young Latino voters go to the polls and stand up for their convictions.
It’s only right to know what Obama’s convictions are regarding immigration reform.
Comment(20)
ERocha
Unfortunately, I am not surprise at tonight’s SOTU. He has just de-prioritized CIR.
He basically dropped any firm timeline to fix it. The only way it will be dealt is if there a nation wide grand march. Other than that, each public event will be viewed as a isolated incident and probably get very little coverage. Out of sight, out of mind.
Texan123
Do you really think it is wise to push for legal status for undocumented workers when so many citizens are out of work? Do you not realize that U.S. citizens feel they have a legal right to the jobs being held by the undocumented workers? Do you have no compassion for the unemployed American citizens and legal immigrants who are struggling to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads? Can you not understand the betrayal American workers feel for a Federal Government that has allowed jobs and Identities to be stolen from citizens?
If you do not understand the outrage that will come with proposed Immigration Reform, perhaps you will understand the money issue. States are paying unemployment benefits to millions of American workers that are no longer paying income and state taxes. There are not enought resources to care for the people who have paid into the system their whole lives. We can not take any more entitlement debt.
Most Americans want Reform that actually enforces the laws that were designed to protect our jobs. Giving undocumented workers the legal right to keep those jobs in this economic environment is political suicide and will result in taxpayer revolt.
Please try to understand both sides of this issue.
Juloe B
They should not touch this issue until Americans are back to work. 20% of citizens can not find full time employment. If you know companies that are hiring illegal workers. Please report them. www,wehireillegals.com
Karen
Obama will not fight for any issues, much less issues that are important to Latinos. He doesn’t care. So why does anyone expect Obama’s immigration reform to protect human and civil rights?
Have you ever thought that if immigration reform passes that it could create a worse situation that we have now? They seem to be focused on enforcement only policies, such as E-verify, a system full of errors. If that passes, anybody with a Spanish surname is at risk of being denied a job. Why can’t the Social security Administration just verify employees? Why contract it out to a private company?
But they aren’t focused on the real issue, which is NAFTA. They also have no intention of eliminating for profit immigration detention centers, which have a history of abuse.
Karen
Re: “There are not enought resources to care for the people who have paid into the system their whole lives.”
Yes there are. But the government would rather spend it on wars and on bonuses for Wall St crooks.
cookie
Karen, it is any presidents duty to make decisions based on the national interest not what a certain ethnic group demands or wants.
Why is a CIR such an important issue to Latino citizens? Why isn’t the enforcement of our current laws and securing our borders important to them instead? And no, our immigration laws aren’t broken they were never really enforced.
What does human or civil rights have to do with this issue?
E-verify is not full of errors. It is over 96-98% accurate. It is utter BS that Latinos will be targeted because it would be used on all employees currently working and potential employees. Get your facts straight and stop spreading untruths. No one will be denied a job if they have legitimate I.D. and are here legally in our country. It does your side no good to spread lies.
Texan123
E-Verify uses the Social Security database to verify legal workers. Some say it is full of errors. It has shown to be very effective and reliable, which is why undocumented workers are opposed to using it.
Something MUST be done about ID theft. Some undocumented people are using citizen’s numbers, not only to work, but to take out loans and mortages. This causes months of problems for the rightful owner of the social security number.
Do you think that citizens who have fought the IRS after having their ID used by illegal workers will just let CIR pass without speaking out?
The Amnesty Act of 1986 promised an end to illegal immigration. The result is that we now have 12 million + more illegal workers. Enforcement was promised but never delivered. Please do not expect citizens to believe the same lies again.
Aaron
It’s been said before but I’ll say it again. The Social Security Database, although it has a small percentage of errors, is the best tool we have yet. Denying ourselves this tool only cedes victory to illegal aliens and their supporters. The government permits challenge to the database. If some of the citizens run into trouble, they can eventually get their case fixed. This is an opportunity to not only deny employment to those who are not entitled to it, but to give the citizen a chance to get his/her record straight prior to retirement. No doubt there are hundreds of thousands of people who have been subject to identity theft but don’t know it yet. The only people who should fear this process are illegal aliens.
Karen
http://fcw.com/Articles/2009/07/22/Witnesses-say-EVerify-system-flawed.aspx
Witnesses: E-Verify system can’t detect ID theft
“The Homeland Security Department’s E-Verify employment verification system cannot detect identity theft and fraudulent applications, according to testimony before a Senate Judiciary Committee subcommittee.”
Aaron
Actually, E-verify can detect identity theft, indirectly. There are many cases where mismatches result in the employee never returning to work after his SSN being challenged. 9/10 times this is because is fraudulently representing himself. Additionally, if he is using a dead person’s SSN you can be sure that he’s stolen an identity. Frankly, I don’t care what a federal agent under political pressure from an unethical sdministration says.
cookie
So we should throw out the baby with the bathwater? E-verify is over 96% accurate right now. With biometric data input along with one’s SS number and other identifying data e-verify can be nearlly 100% accurate but then what would the apologists for illegal aliens have to complain about? I am sure they would find some excuse to toss out e-verify.
Aaron
It’s hardly news that it’s the progressives and supporters of illegal aliens, to include immigration lawyers, who oppose E-verify. Their bias hardly makes them credible. Let them present hard statistical evidence that there are large numbers of people who are inconvenienced and are actually harmed in the long term by E-verify. If what they say is true, I have no doubt that the ACLU and MALDEF would have brought suits in the court. Thus far it appears to be pure hypothesis on their part.
Texan123
I think E-verify would be foolproof if 3 items were required. Name, social security number and place of birth (or date). It may be easy to find out 2 of the 3 but if someone steals an ID or buys one, it would be pretty hard to match all three unless it was your number to start with. All deceased numbers should be removed from the database.
Karen
Re: “E-verify is over 96% accurate right now. With biometric data…”
They’ll just pay their workers in cash. DUH.
Meanwhile the rest of us will have to have computer chips in our azzes to prove who we are. This isn’t even America anymore.
Karen
Re: “It’s been said before but I’ll say it again. The Social Security Database, although it has a small percentage of errors, is the best tool we have yet.”
I agree. So why do we need E-Verify? Do you even know what E-Verify is? It’s a private corporation that collects all of your data.
The government should verify eligibility for employment, not some private corporation that already has a high error rate. (2% is high. That translates into millions of people.)
E-verify is a just a ruse to give tax dollars to a corpration that has donated to government officials.
As I said, if employers want to hire somebody undocumented, they will just pay them under the table in cash.
You guys seem more than willing to give away all of our rights.
cookie
Karen, you obviously don’t know how e-verify works. Its database does contain government provided information on an individual such as their SS number. That government information is what is used to identify a potential employees eligibility to work in this country. So 2% is a high degree of inaccuracy? You’re kidding, right? If a person’s data comes up suspect they have the right to appeal it and if one is legally in this country they should have no problem being able to clear their record.
How is that giving away our rights? We have always had to provide a SS number and I.D. to work. There are many instances where providing proof of who you are is necessary to protect our own identity from crooks. You can’t be serious that it violates our rights. Just admit that you want to protect illegal aliens from being denied work and from not being deported and that is your objection.
Very few employers will take the chance and pay an illegal alien in cash to avoid e-verify. The penalties would be very stiff if caught. It wouldn’t be worth it.
Karina
“Meanwhile the rest of us will have to have computer chips in our azzes to prove who we are. This isn’t even America anymore”
Blame illegal aliens for it not being America anymore. I like my country being overrun with people who are poorly educated, can’t communicate in the common language and underbid Americans for work, cost billions in special ESL learning, condemn our democratically enacted immigration laws and policies and force us to raise local and state tax rates. We wouldn’t have as much trouble with identity theft and the undermining of our government databases and people’s personal credentials if it were not for their fraud. Yes, I blame the burgeoning cost of border protection, identity theft and prosecution of illegal immigrant on the illegal immigrants. These people cost citizens billions that could be used to pay down the national debt and take care of poor citizens, or could even be used by the average American for his education. Illegal aliens are unquestionably violating our laws and are a burden on this country.
I’m for fining every illegal alien $10,000 for every illegal entry, like Korea and other countries do for their illegal aliens.
Aaron
Sure, Karen, it’s a government plot. I’ve got news for you, billions of dollars in competitive contracts have been awarded to thousands of businesses working for federal government agencies, all of them scrupulously managed in accordance with the Code of Federal Regulations. It has been so for more than a decade now. The DHS E-verify program is no different from any DoD program assisted by contractors in that respect. You’re just blowing a lot of ignorant hot air by smearing the E-verify managers as you have absolutely no evidence for you allegations. Grow up!
Karen
Re: “I’ve got news for you, billions of dollars in competitive contracts have been awarded to thousands of businesses working for federal government agencies, all of them scrupulously managed in accordance with the Code of Federal Regulations.”
Get real. Part of the reason ‘government’ does not work as well as it used to is because so much of it is being outsourced.
I don’t have a problem with the government checking for eligibility to work. That’s their job. I DO have a problem with being forced to turn over my SS# and other private data to some corporation that does not operate with the same standards as the US government.
Karina: we have so much ‘illegal’ immigration because of NAFTA and because greedy corprations would rather have workers who lack rights. This way they can’t unionize.
Our government spends money militarizing Latin American countries so that they can’t create labor movements. That’s why wages there are so cheap. Right now we are doing it in Mexico under Plan Mexico.
Furthermore, the corporate owned media has spent billions of dollars misrepresenting what is really going on. Our own polices are contributing to the problem. If you hate illegal immigration, then spend your energy getting NAFTA repealed.
Candy
“Get real. Part of the reason ‘government’ does not work as well as it used to is because so much of it is being outsourced.”
Aside from your disenchantment with contracted immigration detainment, what other contracted area of government do you have any evidence that government workers work out better than the private enterprise?
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