My friend John Lamb in Nashville has had this idea for a while. It sounds a little nuts at first, but as John notes -
Giving American citizens the power of granting legal status to their foreign-born friends is an idea I've had for a while but not trumpeted very much. The idea is, if deputization of immigration enforcement responsibilities is such a great idea, why not deputize the admission and naturalization piece, as well?.
Well now a Utah Republican Senator is proposing a bill that would do just this. According to the Salt Lake Tribune:
Rep. John Dougall, R-Highland, gave the first glimpse of his proposed bill, titled the “Alien Friends Amendments,” that would allow any U.S. citizen who is a resident of Utah to sponsor an undocumented immigrant not already in the state to live and work here.
Dougall said the premise is centered on his belief that “immigration is not a power delegated to Congress as delineated within the U.S. Constitution and, as such, is left to the states and the people.”
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His measure would allow each citizen who is a resident of Utah to sponsor an immigrant, provided they pass a health and background screening to be eligible for the program. The sponsor would also assume financial liability for the immigrant.
It also has some restrictions on immigrants’ ability to travel. Under the proposal, the so-called resident immigrant would be eligible to reside, work and study only in Utah and couldn’t travel to another state without permission from that state.
FAIR, CIS and Numbers USA Vision for America as well as the vision of folks like Roy Beck and Richar Lamm....The whitest state of West Virginia....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110222/ap_on_re_us/us_census_dying_counties
"Nestled within America's once-thriving coal country, 87-year-old Ed Shepard laments a prosperous era gone by, when shoppers lined the streets and government lent a helping hand. Now, here as in one-fourth of all U.S. counties, West Virginia's graying residents are slowly dying off.
Hit by an aging population and a poor economy, a near-record number of U.S. counties are experiencing more deaths than births in their communities, a phenomenon demographers call "natural decrease.""
Posted by: George Chell | February 22, 2011 at 10:52 AM
gg:
What is new with the report on the GOP. I have been saying that the antis have been racists all the time. If CIS, FAIR and Numbers USA were not really racists and wanted to educate more Americans they would be vehemently protesting all the state level budget cuts and will be standing in front of the US Capitol now. As of yesterday afternoon..I was there..did not see any protesters let alone FAIR, CIS or Numbers USA. Their goal is not to protect US workers but the goal of Stein, Camarotta, Kirkorian, Vaughan, Heather Macdonald and many others including governor Richard Lamm (who claims to be a liberal...he is not!) is to maintain a white America...racists one and all!
Posted by: George Chell | February 21, 2011 at 07:28 AM
ICE press release announcing that Secure Communities is now activated in Barrow, Newton, and Walton counties. With the expansion of Secure Communities to these three counties, ICE is now using this capability in 16 Georgia jurisdictions
Posted by: Another Voice | February 21, 2011 at 07:28 AM
Racist Roots of Republican Party Immigration Policy
http://www.politicalaffairs.net/racist-roots-of-republican-party-immigration-policy/
Posted by: gg | February 20, 2011 at 06:49 PM
John McCain's bold agenda may recast his legacy
"There's only one guy in the U.S. Senate who could make immigration reform go from 'not happening' to 'game on,' and that's John McCain," said Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, a national group that advocates for comprehensive immigration reform. "He's the only one."
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2011/02/20/20110220john-mccain-agenda-legacy.html#ixzz1EWMl6I1c
Posted by: gg | February 20, 2011 at 09:29 AM
"At what point exactly will you take the pressure off the border? When the U.S. becomes a worse place to live compared to Mexico?"
When the US and state governments declare bankruptcy which is a possibility!
Posted by: George Chell | February 18, 2011 at 11:00 AM
ibm computers can play jeopardy but cannot fix uscis mess ...
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20110217_7066.php?oref=topstory
Posted by: gg | February 18, 2011 at 10:02 AM
At what point exactly will you take the pressure off the border? When the U.S. becomes a worse place to live compared to Mexico?
Posted by: Sid | February 18, 2011 at 09:25 AM
Why keep borrowing from China to to all the border stuff when you can fix the immigration system, save money and take pressure off the border. I thought they wanted to cut spending and have a more efficient government.
Posted by: Another Voice | February 18, 2011 at 08:59 AM
As I always say, a nation nose deep in debt has no sovereignty and beggars cannot be choosers. Antis will like to shut down the borders but they are part of the beggar group..if you are creditor nation you can do what you want. Not when you are a debtor nation. If we allow them to shut the borders we all will be living in the caves hunting for a living and demanding second amendment rights!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_wiki_china_treasury
Posted by: George Chell | February 18, 2011 at 07:43 AM
At the hearing, Napolitano has stressed that the “demands on the DHS have never been greater” and that the proposed budget will allow the department to meet to continue essential programs to protect US borders.
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3% surely won't be enough to answer the phone more often for incoming calls from Arizona, right Janet? If you want to credibly play the "we just don't have enough funding" card, shouldn't you at least ask for more?
Posted by: Jack | February 17, 2011 at 09:03 PM
Mac is back, talks cir 55:00
http://www.c-span.org/Events/Lawmakers-Quiz-Napolitanos-DHS-Budget/10737419666-1/
Posted by: gg | February 17, 2011 at 08:36 PM
Why does this craziness keep coming from Utah? Remember Utah Democrat Luz Robles' bill?
http://www.sltrib.com/csp/cms/sites/sltrib/pages/printerfriendly.csp?id=50778390
Now a Utah Republican is embarrassing himself in the same way.
You've heard of “Texas: It's like a whole other country”? "Utah: We literally are our own country!"
Unfortunately for such bills, over no subject is the power of Congress more complete. SB 1070 was enjoined even though it was based on Congress' federal law (the executive branch essentially said we don't want your help enforcing that law). These Utah bills go right to the most fundamental element of immigration law--who gets in--and create a whole new scheme. Oh, and they regulate who gets to work too. Psst..there's already a federal statutory scheme related to the hiring of aliens. It's all quite astonishing, but the truly entertaining part will be watching the people who opposed the AZ bill on the grounds that it infringed on the federal power and thus had to be enjoined. Will Justice be right down in Utah to sue the second it passes? Will MALDEF and the ACLU file their own suits? They were sanctimoniously waiving the Supremacy Clause when it suited their political purposes but weren't so offended when state laws attempted to get around IIRIRA.
Ron Mortensen, co-founder of the Utah Coalition on Illegal Immigration, said his group was reviewing the Dougall bill and hadn’t yet formulated an opinion on it.
Posted by: Jack | February 17, 2011 at 08:23 PM
ideal excuse for david vitter and dc madams of the world ... freinds visa ..
Posted by: gg | February 17, 2011 at 03:22 PM
Adi, this bill signifies the how "brainy" the so called lawmakers are. Do I trust them to haul this country from the mess it's in. Hell no!!!
Posted by: My 2 cents | February 17, 2011 at 11:24 AM
If this bill has any chance of passing then recapture/nurse bill is a no brainer.
Posted by: Adi | February 17, 2011 at 07:46 AM
I guess this would be a band aid for an ax wound but at least it would give some immigrants breathing room in their personal freedom, I guess at least now they could be in the state of residence without live in complete fear. But I guess it is still the same thing, some states would be adverse to immigrants other s would be friendly. Is best to have a uniform federal standard for the whole nation. The moment you validate something like this you have to be prepared to deal with the flip side of the coin.
Posted by: Another Voice | February 17, 2011 at 07:41 AM
Interesting. I always thought that if the states were given an opportunity to have their immigration laws, immigration situation would improve. First, it would get worse because Arizonas of the world will jump on the opportunity, but then when states that desperately need more people figure out that immigration helps with state revenue and overall wellfare, it will turn around quick.
Posted by: Legal and no longer waiting | February 17, 2011 at 07:37 AM