Reply from Congressman Emanuel Cleaver concerning Orphan WorksActof 2008

[Jeffrey Watts]

On Tue, Aug 19, 2008 at 2:04 AM, Leo Mauler <webgiant at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> My freedom not to get sick when an illegal immigrant brings over a
> communicable disease needs to be celebrated by keeping immigration laws in
> place to try and prevent him from doing so.
>

I see now where you get your news.  I recall that a year ago or so was when
Fox News was running the scare story over and over again about illegal
immigrants bringing over Consumption.  A lot of blogs were as well.  It's
not as big a deal as folks make it out to be, and tends to be used by
small-minded folks as an excuse for discrimination.  I'm not asserting that
you are one of them, so please don't take offense.

The odd thing, though, is that I think most folks _agree_ that illegal
immigration should be curtailed.  The problem is that there are many folks
taking extreme positions (most, unfortunately, on the Right side of the
political spectrum).  Last year's attempted compromise was very flawed, but
it was a start.  We need to find a real solution for the problem and it's
not "kick 'em all out and build a giant wall".  The problem is much more
complicated than that.

I would like to see illegal immigration numbers to drop, dramatically.
However, to do that we need to reform our immigration laws to make them less
biased against working class folks and to reform the quota system.  This
will make it easier to secure the border by reducing the influx.  We must
put teeth to the labor laws that prevent abuses of illegal immigrants, which
will dry up the jobs for illegal labor.  Finally, we must offer some
solution to the millions of illegal immigrants that are already here - and
no, "deporting them" isn't an option, as we simply can not capture and
deport 15 million people, we don't have the manpower, the money, the time,
nor the detention centers necessary.  Folks can argue about it all they
want, but it simply won't happen - we need to find a compromise.

Leo, your Paris Hilton example is absurd.  Please stop justifying it and use
something cogent.  I understand what you're trying to say, but it's so out
there that I could probably make a similar comparison involving a peanut
butter and jelly sandwich.  You can do better.  :)

Jeffrey.


-- 

"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from
oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that
will reach to himself." -- Thomas Paine
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