Posted on 06/02/2009 10:05:54 AM PDT by stan_sipple
Building a fence along the Mexican border and fighting over proposed immigration restrictions in Fremont are a lot more visible right now than any new paths to citizenship.
But that didn’t stop Nebraska advocates of a more welcoming attitude from stepping forward to make their case in Lincoln and Omaha Monday.
“I can’t tell you how devastating it is to me to see that fence as an American citizen,” the Rev. Chuck Bentjen said at the Lincoln launch of the National Campaign to Reform Immigration for America.
Bentjen, based in Lincoln with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, was one of about two dozen people from Nebraska social advocacy organizations to line up at the Capitol Rotunda over the noon hour with red, white and blue signs promoting the national campaign.
Despite polls suggesting more tolerant attitudes, “it’s astonishing to me that exactly the opposite is happening with public policy,” he said.
In fact, there’s no sign that a path to citizenship and other proposed reforms put forward during the Bush Administration will be resurrected any time soon by President Barack Obama.
The reform coalition is hoping that calling attention to what it sees as a broken system will create a new sense of urgency.
The list of goals at the national level includes better wages, better working conditions and labor protection for immigrant workers and rules that make it harder for employers to cheat them.
Diana Kuhl of Fremont and Karen Buchfinck of Crete would like see something happen that’s outside the crackdown mode.
Kuhl alluded to the tense atmosphere in Fremont, where a citizen group has been pushing for a ban on hiring and housing of people who entered the country illegally.
As she and others await action on a related ordinance from the Nebraska Court of Appeals, Kuhl cited feedback from a Fremont elementary school teacher.
“She has young children crying during the day in class, because they’re afraid, at the end of the day, their parents won’t be there to pick them up.”
Guidance counselor Buchfinck said Nebraska leaders are worried about the brain drain that goes with an exodus of young people.
“And yet we have incredible students graduating who can be of benefit to our state.”
The Lincoln-based Nebraska Appleseed is another member of a reform effort that is building toward an immigration summit in Washington, D.C., Wednesday through Friday.
In this case (and many others) “reform” is a euphemism for “elimination of national borders.”
How come she’s not speaking Spanish?
brain drain? right, how do you drain empty brains (sarc)
It’s easy, fix Mexico.
Stop bankrupting us.
you bet, why not? and we just dont have enough talented american kids to educate here.(sarc)
ping
Two dozen paid “people” boy am I impressed, not. Guy is a traitor for trying to replace me an my family in my own country, to heck with him and any of his allies for their inhumanity.
“I can’t tell you how devastating it is to me to see that fence as an American citizen” - Did they move the border to Lincoln Nebraska? I look at it every day. If he thinks that’s devastating, try seeing the daily droves of illegals entering this country by the thousands, along with drugs, sex criminals etc etc.
Dr. George Tiller, the notorious partial birth abortionist, was a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
2004 Libertarian Party Platform:
Immigration
The Issue: We welcome all refugees to our country and condemn the efforts of U.S. officials to create a new “Berlin Wall” which would keep them captive. We condemn the U.S. government’s policy of barring those refugees from our country and preventing Americans from assisting their passage to help them escape tyranny or improve their economic prospects.
The Principle: We hold that human rights should not be denied or abridged on the basis of nationality. Undocumented non-citizens should not be denied the fundamental freedom to labor and to move about unmolested. Furthermore, immigration must not be restricted for reasons of race, religion, political creed, age or sexual preference. We oppose government welfare and resettlement payments to non-citizens just as we oppose government welfare payments to all other persons.
Solutions: We condemn massive roundups of Hispanic Americans and others by the federal government in its hunt for individuals not possessing required government documents. We strongly oppose all measures that punish employers who hire undocumented workers. Such measures repress free enterprise, harass workers, and systematically discourage employers from hiring Hispanics.
Transitional Action: We call for the elimination of all restrictions on immigration, the abolition of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Border Patrol, and a declaration of full amnesty for all people who have entered the country illegally.
by the time Obama leaves office we might need a fence up here.
Actually, if Zerobama and the Demonrats push through socialized medicine we will see a huge “brain drain” as American doctors and nurses move south of the border to set up hospitals and clinics to treat Americans and Canadians who can afford to pay for their own medical care and cannot afford to wait months and years for treatment that the socialized medicine waiting lists will necessitate. Unfortunately Zerobama’s socialized medicine likely will let favored groups, like homosexuals, go to the head of the line so they can have their AIDS treatments and sex change operations.
everything progressive and pagan in the elca.
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