Immigration

IMMIGRATION Andrew's stand on Immigration
Arizonans are running out of patience when it comes to solving the immigration problem. While “attrition through enforcement” may be popular, it does nothing to solve the issues of cross-border crime, address the practical labor needs of our economy, or prevent tragic events like the Krentz murder from happening again. Practical, market-driven solutions–that don’t include amnesty–can and should be explored. As a business owner, I know that until you deal with these other issues, you will not have solved the problem. Securing the border gets us only a third of the way. I will work with Arizona’s state and federal delegations –from both parties– to find a solution for this problem for once and for all. Let me begin by stating categorically that I firmly believe that no one should ever enter the U.S. (or any other country) without the proper documentation at any time for any reason. There are laws and rules to provide for legal entry into our country and they need to be respected. Other countries expect our citizens to enter their countries properly and it’s not unreasonable to expect their citizens to do likewise. I do not believe in rewarding law-breakers, but I also do not believe in tearing citizen children away from their parents. My opponent likes to call anyone who disagrees with him an "open border anarchist," which is nonsense. But his unhealthy obsession with immigrants has caused him to ignore any solution that doesn't reward undocumented immigrants with citizenship, but rather some type of legal status so they can be here with their children. If Russell Pearce really believes immigration is a Federal issue, why hasn't he met with his Republican counterparts in Congress? Why hasn't he gotten Joe Arpaio and Andy Thomas to sit down with John McCain, Jon Kyl, John Shaddegg, Trent Franks and Jeff Flake and said "we need to fix this problem?" Why hasn't he gone to groups such as ImmigrationWorks, Americans for Immigration Reform and others and asked them to work together to solve the problem at the Federal level? Instead of condemning the McCain/Kennedy bill as "amnesty," why didn't he get on a plane and go help them fix it? The reason is simple: with that problem solved he would have to run on his record of failure on the state budget deficit, the economy, education, health care, public services, energy, transportation, and business destruction. He needs mmigration because he has so botched his other responsibilities and driven them into the ground. You cannot solve the immigration problem through border security alone. You must also deal with the demand for labor; modernize the convoluted process people seeking to come to the U.S. for jobs have to use; create more market-driven visa quotas and determine how many people are already here and find out how many of them actually want to stay here. Unless and until we address the problem completely, we will never solve it. There is a local business group talking about a solution that makes sense to me. It’s based on the concept of Ellis Island. Everyone knows what Ellis Island is. My relatives came through there. Joe Arpaio’s parents came through there. Lots of other people’s relatives came through there. Even though the immigration laws were much more lax then, it was a place where immigrants were identified, got a rudimentary health check, someone already in the U.S. vouched for them that they wouldn’t be a “burden on society” and off they went. This business proposal, put simply, is to build Ellis Island-like centers on the border where immigrants can: Be matched up, apply for and be offered jobs (just like current law requires) through the creation of a jobs web site tailored to low-skilled workers Get criminal and health checks Obtain all necessary visa documents Be issued Social Security cards and everything else the government requires for them to enter through the “front door.” Pay Uncle Sam the $2,500 they would have paid coyotes to cover the costs of expediting their application, the criminal and health checks, health insurance, etc. Employers win because they no longer have to go underground for labor. Congress wins because they get the information they needs to manage annual visa quotas. Labor wins because the incentive to hire undocumented workers thus depressing wages is eliminated because all wages are published in the jobs system–everything’s out in the open. The border security wins because now the only people coming across the border in the desert are the real bad guys who need to be stopped. The government wins because the people who are coming here are shouldering the costs of running the centers through the fees they pay. The border communities win because the demand for places for people to stay, eat, but clothing, supplies, etc. will go up on both sides of the border, increasing the demand for new businesses and jobs. The only losers are the coyotes. We just put them out of business using their former customer’s money. This idea sounds reasonable to me. It’s worth talking about. If we’re serious about solving this problem, we have to deal with the root cause which is the demand for labor. So far, I’m the only candidate talking about a real solution. Now that’s leadership.		MORE... Andrew's stand on other important issues. Business & Jobs Education Healthcare Seniors Tourism

Arizonans are running out of patience when it comes to solving the immigration problem. While “attrition through enforcement” may be popular, it does nothing to solve the issues of cross-border crime, address the practical labor needs of our economy, or prevent tragic events like the Krentz murder from happening again. Practical, market-driven solutions–that don’t include amnesty–can and should be explored. As a business owner, I know that until you deal with these other issues, you will not have solved the problem. Securing the border gets us only a third of the way. I will work with Arizona’s state and federal delegations –from both parties– to find a solution for this problem for once and for all.

Let me begin by stating categorically that I firmly believe that no one should ever enter the U.S. (or any other country) without the proper documentation at any time for any reason. There are laws and rules to provide for legal entry into our country and they need to be respected. Other countries expect our citizens to enter their countries properly and it’s not unreasonable to expect their citizens to do likewise.

I do not believe in rewarding law-breakers, but I also do not believe in tearing citizen children away from their parents. My opponent likes to call anyone who disagrees with him an "open border anarchist," which is nonsense. But his unhealthy obsession with immigrants has caused him to ignore any solution that doesn't reward undocumented immigrants with citizenship, but rather some type of legal status so they can be here with their children.

If Russell Pearce really believes immigration is a Federal issue, why hasn't he met with his Republican counterparts in Congress? Why hasn't he gotten Joe Arpaio and Andy Thomas to sit down with John McCain, Jon Kyl, John Shaddegg, Trent Franks and Jeff Flake and said "we need to fix this problem?" Why hasn't he gone to groups such as ImmigrationWorks, Americans for Immigration Reform and others and asked them to work together to solve the problem at the Federal level? Instead of condemning the McCain/Kennedy bill as "amnesty," why didn't he get on a plane and go help them fix it?

The reason is simple: with that problem solved he would have to run on his record of failure on the state budget deficit, the economy, education, health care, public services, energy, transportation, and business destruction. He needs mmigration because he has so botched his other responsibilities and driven them into the ground.

You cannot solve the immigration problem through border security alone. You must also deal with the demand for labor; modernize the convoluted process people seeking to come to the U.S. for jobs have to use; create more market-driven visa quotas and determine how many people are already here and find out how many of them actually want to stay here. Unless and until we address the problem completely, we will never solve it.

There is a local business group talking about a solution that makes sense to me. It’s based on the concept of Ellis Island. Everyone knows what Ellis Island is. My relatives came through there. Joe Arpaio’s parents came through there. Lots of other people’s relatives came through there. Even though the immigration laws were much more lax then, it was a place where immigrants were identified, got a rudimentary health check, someone already in the U.S. vouched for them that they wouldn’t be a “burden on society” and off they went. This business proposal, put simply, is to build Ellis Island-like centers on the border where immigrants can:

Be matched up, apply for and be offered jobs (just like current law requires) through the creation of a jobs web site tailored to low-skilled workers
Get criminal and health checks
Obtain all necessary visa documents
Be issued Social Security cards and everything else the government requires for them to enter through the “front door.”
Pay Uncle Sam the $2,500 they would have paid coyotes to cover the costs of expediting their application, the criminal and health checks, health insurance, etc.

Employers win because they no longer have to go underground for labor. Congress wins because they get the information they needs to manage annual visa quotas. Labor wins because the incentive to hire undocumented workers thus depressing wages is eliminated because all wages are published in the jobs system–everything’s out in the open. The border security wins because now the only people coming across the border in the desert are the real bad guys who need to be stopped. The government wins because the people who are coming here are shouldering the costs of running the centers through the fees they pay. The border communities win because the demand for places for people to stay, eat, but clothing, supplies, etc. will go up on both sides of the border, increasing the demand for new businesses and jobs. The only losers are the coyotes. We just put them out of business using their former customer’s money.

This idea sounds reasonable to me. It’s worth talking about. If we’re serious about solving this problem, we have to deal with the root cause which is the demand for labor. So far, I’m the only candidate talking about a real solution. Now that’s leadership.