Immigration Law

Colin Powell Clarifies Comments About Illegal Immigrants

By Robert A. Kraft

General Colin Powell has clarified a rather startling remark he made Sunday morning on Meet The Press.

He was talking about the need for a path to legal status for those in this country without authorization. His original statement was "They're all over my house, doing things whenever I call for repairs, and I'm sure you've seen them at your house. We've got to find a way to bring these people out of the darkness and give them some kind of status."

Today, General Powell's office said he "misspoke" during the interview, and that he did not mean that he personally had hired illegal immigrants to work on his house. Instead, he was "...referring to the many service contractors who work in my neighborhood, using mostly immigrant workers, who do good work. Some may well be 'illegal.' There are 11 million illegal immigrants in this country and most are working somewhere in our economy."

Regardless of who hired the illegal immigrants in question, General Powell is exactly right in saying we need to find some way to bring these people "out of the darkness" and integrate them into American society.

Full post as published by Immigration Law Answers Blog on September 20, 2010 (boomark / email).