2008 Woodie Awards
EDITORIALS
Issue date: 3/30/06 Section: Opinion/Editorial
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Sensible immigration policy needed, but not expected anytime soon
When 500,000 people poured into downtown Los Angeles March 25 to protest an immigration bill recently passed by the House of Representatives, even the organizers of the march weren't expecting such a large turnout.
Across the country, similar protests in recent weeks have illustrated the simmering resentment among immigrants about the bill, which would criminalize helping illegal immigrants and build a fence hundreds of miles long along the U.S.-Mexican border. The House bill is a reactionary political move on the part of politicians who want to gain ignorant, angry votes. Immigration founded this country. Despite the problems illegal immigration imposes on social services, U.S. unemployment remains at very low levels and the economy continues to grow, with no small thanks to their efforts.
An alternative bill in the Senate, however, could provide sensible answers for immigration reform, provided political forces don't smother it before it comes to a vote. It would offer citizenship over an 11-year period to immigrants with a strong work ethic. The bill would promote exactly the values we hold dearest as Americans and allow immigrants to contribute to the economy legitimately.
Unfortunately, the bill is being labeled as an "amnesty" program by extremist political forces hell-bent on using immigrants as scapegoats for all of the problems Republicans can't solve, like rising gas prices and the unresolvable Iraq war. The Republican Party can't win an election this fall without focusing its energies on the only winning policy - irrational hatred of immigrants. Of course, as time goes on and Latinos become the largest minority in the country, that policy may come to haunt them.
Demand that your representatives vote for sensible immigration reform. We can't afford anything less.
Is April Fool's Day dead? 24 hours of pranks soon to be forgotten
Put away the can of worms. Forget the rubber, amputated limbs, plastic vomit and rubber chicken. And don't even think about getting out the whoopee cushion. Does April Fool's Day still exist?
When 500,000 people poured into downtown Los Angeles March 25 to protest an immigration bill recently passed by the House of Representatives, even the organizers of the march weren't expecting such a large turnout.
Across the country, similar protests in recent weeks have illustrated the simmering resentment among immigrants about the bill, which would criminalize helping illegal immigrants and build a fence hundreds of miles long along the U.S.-Mexican border. The House bill is a reactionary political move on the part of politicians who want to gain ignorant, angry votes. Immigration founded this country. Despite the problems illegal immigration imposes on social services, U.S. unemployment remains at very low levels and the economy continues to grow, with no small thanks to their efforts.
An alternative bill in the Senate, however, could provide sensible answers for immigration reform, provided political forces don't smother it before it comes to a vote. It would offer citizenship over an 11-year period to immigrants with a strong work ethic. The bill would promote exactly the values we hold dearest as Americans and allow immigrants to contribute to the economy legitimately.
Unfortunately, the bill is being labeled as an "amnesty" program by extremist political forces hell-bent on using immigrants as scapegoats for all of the problems Republicans can't solve, like rising gas prices and the unresolvable Iraq war. The Republican Party can't win an election this fall without focusing its energies on the only winning policy - irrational hatred of immigrants. Of course, as time goes on and Latinos become the largest minority in the country, that policy may come to haunt them.
Demand that your representatives vote for sensible immigration reform. We can't afford anything less.
Is April Fool's Day dead? 24 hours of pranks soon to be forgotten
Put away the can of worms. Forget the rubber, amputated limbs, plastic vomit and rubber chicken. And don't even think about getting out the whoopee cushion. Does April Fool's Day still exist?