Immigration Law

REPUBLICAN PLATFORM OPPOSES COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM

By Greg Siskind

As the McCain-Palin ticket is introduced to the country at the GOP national convention in St. Paul, it pays to discuss what the Republican platform has to say about immigration.

Despite the fact that the platform starts out with the promising statement that the US can have a strong immigration system without sacrificing the rule of law, the text focuses almost entirely on enforcement.

Here are the major concepts outlined in the immigration plank:

- illegal immigration threatens the sovereignty of the United States
- more border agents are needed
- finish the border fence
- more work site enforcement
- make E-Verify mandatory for all employers
- more enforcement against visa overstays and
- more police departments signing enforcement agreements with ICE 
- no drivers licenses for illegally present immigrants
- no in-state college tuition rates for illegally present immigrants
- no social security or other benefits for illegally present immigrants
- No AMNESTY
- English should be the official language of the US
- no refugee status for "lifestyle" or other "non-political" factors (sounds like the target are claims by gays and lesbians)

There are a single provision that will be welcome by the pro-immigration community:

- no tolerance of delay and confusion at USCIS

GOP platform immigration planks - Free Legal Forms

Full post as published by Greg Siskind's Blog on September 04, 2008 (boomark / email).