Immigration

This is a country that was built by immigrants and which still needs immigrants to grow and prosper.

Immigrants come here for all sorts of reasons, some who are professional people come to make much more money in say our medical system then they could at home, others because of a particular job but the majority come here with limited skills hoping to build a better life for themselves and their children.

Some of course flee oppression or war and come here for a safe refuge.

There are of course some who try to come here for sinister reasons, either as terrorists or possibly spies for a foreign power or members of a criminal group who we should of course try to identify and prevent.

There's an old adage about throwing out the baby with the bathwater and clearly the current administration attitude towards immigrants leans to that approach.

They are now interpreting our laws in a way that is going to make it harder to obtain a green card or become a citizen.

Our rules generally require applicants to be self sufficient, and it makes sense we wouldn't want to have people who came here and simply depended on Government assistance.

But consider a scenario where someone comes here, gets a job and at some point gets laid off, collects the unemployment insurance he paid into for a few weeks before he lands another job.

Years later his application for citizenship and his green card status are questioned because he had accepted public support.

Or someone who complies with the ACA and signed up for the insurance and qualified for a Government subsidy under the rules.  His status could also be doubtful.

These are hard working people, struggling to support their families but despite their clean records and desire to be good citizens we are looking for anyway to deny them and possibly force them out of the country.

It is shameful.  It denies our history and our promise written on the Statue of Liberty.