If you listen to Lamar Smith and his supporters, he has been a champion of immigration policy during his 23 years in Congress. Well, it seems that Republicans and Democrats all agree on one thing this week, the Congress has failed America on immigration. Structural failures of our current policy combined with the inadequate or misguided responses to these failures have led to the largest unauthorized population in our history.
Arizona's Republican Governor Jan Brewer declared this week that "decades of federal inaction and misguided policy have created an unacceptable situation."
The GOP's likely 2012 Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, agreed,
"Arizona's new immigration enforcement law is the direct result of Washington's failure to secure the border and to protect the lives and liberties of our citizens."
In the 1950s, the U.S. government expanded the number of temporary visas available for Mexican agricultural workers. The result was a fall in unauthorized entries to the United States. When Congress ended the program in 1964, unauthorized immigration began to climb again. But instead of learning the lessons from policy that worked, we continue to go down the same path of failed policies. Instead of comprehensive reform, we spend millions on enforcement-only policy that has resulted in skyrocketing unauthorized entries, an increase of deaths on the border, and a more dangerous situation for all of us.
Where has Lamar Smith's leadership on immigration gotten us?
* Insufficient numbers of worker visas without flexibility to change based on the needs of the U.S. economy and labor market.
* Arbitrary visa caps that cause families to wait decades to be reunited.
* Exploitation of immigrant workers which does economic harm to honest businesses and all workers.
* Inadequate infrastructure to support integration of immigrants who want to become citizens.
We need representatives in Congress who are willing to do the hard work of coming up with common-sense solutions based on success not ideology. We need leaders willing to put the security of America over their party line. If our current immigration failure is the best that we can expect from the leadership of Lamar Smith, then it is time for change.
Now is the time that we, Texans, come together to say that we will not mindlessly follow career politicians, like Lamar Smith, who put party line above the people, and who have forgotten why they were sent to Capitol Hill in the first place. Victory doesn't always come instantly. But, whether we win, or we lose a hard-fought battle, we will have made a difference in tomorrow, and set our course for long-term victory.
Go to LaineyForCongress.com and make an investment in the future of Texas.
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Lainey Melnick
Candidate for US Congress
Texas 21st District
http://www.LaineyForCongress.com
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