2008 Woodie Awards
Presidential candidates speak out on immigration
Brendan Block
Issue date: 3/28/08 Section: Forum
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door," reads the golden engraving on the base of the Statue of Liberty from a sonnet written by Emma Lazarus.
Today Lazarus' words still ring true as more than 70,000 refugees are allowed to become legal U.S. residents each year while 10 to 12 million illegal immigrants also reside in the United States.
These illegal immigrants (more properly called undocumented workers) are viewed by many Americans as refugees seeking work to fill manual labor voids in American businesses while others view illegal immigrants as corrosive leeches in our country's economy and welfare system.
Illegal immigration is an issue that is rarely discussed rationally, and the opinions of the future leaders of our country will determine the direction of our policy.
This multi-issue series on illegal immigration seeks first to answer questions on where presidential candidate Senator John McCain stands on illegal immigration along with presidential hopefuls Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
McCain, though dogged by Conservatives as being liberal on illegal immigration, has backed up his desire for immigration reform with impressive statements as his conservatism has gone under scrutiny.
Most notably, McCain calls for the deportation of the more than two million illegal immigrants that have committed crimes.
He agrees with all the candidates that the borders must be secure and seems to have an edge on this issue since he is from the border state of Arizona and is knowledgeable about both traditional and new techniques to secure the border including tamper-proof biometric documents that will occur under the guest worker program, which holds employers accountable in maintaining a legal workforce.
McCain is for deportation but is vague on specifics. McCain does little to explain the depth of his categories for deportation.
Today Lazarus' words still ring true as more than 70,000 refugees are allowed to become legal U.S. residents each year while 10 to 12 million illegal immigrants also reside in the United States.
These illegal immigrants (more properly called undocumented workers) are viewed by many Americans as refugees seeking work to fill manual labor voids in American businesses while others view illegal immigrants as corrosive leeches in our country's economy and welfare system.
Illegal immigration is an issue that is rarely discussed rationally, and the opinions of the future leaders of our country will determine the direction of our policy.
This multi-issue series on illegal immigration seeks first to answer questions on where presidential candidate Senator John McCain stands on illegal immigration along with presidential hopefuls Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
McCain, though dogged by Conservatives as being liberal on illegal immigration, has backed up his desire for immigration reform with impressive statements as his conservatism has gone under scrutiny.
Most notably, McCain calls for the deportation of the more than two million illegal immigrants that have committed crimes.
He agrees with all the candidates that the borders must be secure and seems to have an edge on this issue since he is from the border state of Arizona and is knowledgeable about both traditional and new techniques to secure the border including tamper-proof biometric documents that will occur under the guest worker program, which holds employers accountable in maintaining a legal workforce.
McCain is for deportation but is vague on specifics. McCain does little to explain the depth of his categories for deportation.
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