By Felicia Persaud
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Dec. 2, 2011: Like the show, “Knights Of Mayhem,” the Republican candidates for President are having an all out jousting war with each other, again over the hot button topic of immigration.
Their attention is now turned to former House Speaker and candidate, Newt Gingrich’s immigration plan even as the Obama White House stays silent on the issue and the ICE men continue to rack up those deportation numbers.
Gingrich, feeling the heat, on December 1, pledged to build a double fence along the Mexican/US border. Really Newt? Have you also told the American people the cost of such a stupid idea that will solve nada? As analysts have already said, the “Great Wall Of Mexico” will cost billions that could go to creating jobs and solve nothing!
Maybe Michelle Bachman’s madness is rubbing off on you, or you simply cannot handle the heat that’s coming your way from the nutty conservatives who continue to scapegoat and blame immigrants for everything, without actually having any solution to the illegal immigration problem.
The fact is that your immigration plan actually makes some sense. Even though we know its all talk and nothing behind it, we were beginning to appreciate the point of an immigration plan that allows those with deep ties to be given legal status. It’s what I’ve been saying all along in this column – give a work visa to the undocumented and a travel document and the problem could be solved since most of the 12 million or so are only “illegal” because of a backlogged system of processing that’s inefficient and ineffective.
I do also agree Newt that a foreign entrepreneur who wants to establish legal residency and immediately create American jobs should not have to spend tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees first and neither should a brilliant graduate of an American engineering program have to go home to initiate the process of applying for a high-skilled work visa; and that an American farmer should have efficient, legal means to hire temporary, legal labor to support the American economy.
But even if you back away now because of the heat, at least you are rational enough to deal with the issue. Unlike our dear President, who came to the huge immigrant city of New York on Nov. 30th, creating gridlock and costing the city in security, simply to add more money to his own election war chest.
Not a peep has come from Obama on immigration as we count down to the election, now less than a year away. But I can only assume he’s loving the all out mayhem among the Republican contenders. The game of attack each other is working fine for Barack.
Except his immigrant base of voters is getting very antsy. On December 1, a number of Latinos in Charlotte sent a clear message to the President – that he risks losing important Hispanic votes if he does not do more on the immigration issue. Nationwide, Hispanics voters represented about 9 percent of the electorate in the 2008 election, and nearly seven out of 10 chose Obama, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.
“I think it’s going to be pretty difficult to win the presidential election without addressing the immigration issue,” said Mary Giovagnoli, the director of the Washington-based Immigration Policy Center, adding that Hispanic voters were important in swing states during the 2010 elections.
President Obama, I suggest you seriously listen to that advice.
The writer is founder of NewsAmericasNow, CaribPR Wire and Hard Beat Communications.
