Alexi Giannoulias on Immigration

Comprehensive reform with responsible path to citizenship

Our immigration system is broken. The number of undocumented workers continues to grow by about 500,000 per year, and the system that oversees the immigration process is weighed down by bureaucracy and lack of funding. The US needs comprehensive immigration reform that protects the rights of all workers and modernizes our legal immigration programs:

Alexi supports efforts to protect the integrity of our borders by adding personnel, infrastructure and technology at our ports and borders.

Most undocumented immigrants come to the US in search of employment. The federal government must increase its enforcement of existing immigration laws and hold accountable the companies that provide jobs for undocumented immigrants.

We should place th nation's 12 million undocumented immigrants on a responsible path to citizenship. Alexi supports a plan that requires undocumented workers to pay a fine for entering the country illegally, learn English, pay taxes and wait in line to become citizens. Source: Campaign website, www.AlexiForIllinois.com, "Issues" Dec 25, 2009

Don't punish immigrant kids; DREAM Act yes; REAL ID no

Children who have grown up in the US and are upstanding citizens should not be punished for their parent's illegal immigration.
Alexi supports the bipartisan DREAM Act to provide certain undocumented immigrant students the opportunity to earn conditional permanent residency if they have graduated from U.S. high schools, are of good moral character, and have been in the country continuously for at least five years.
The Federal government's response to the problems facing our broken immigration system must not be REAL ID--an unfunded mandate that infringes on the privacy rights of our citizens by forcing all workers to have a government issued ID that must be verified before they can begin work.
The "Secure America with Immigration and Enforcement" (SAVE Act) and other enforcement-only legislation do not solve the difficult problems facing our immigration system. Forcing undocumented workers underground distracts us from the core issues facing the immigration system

Source: Campaign website, www.AlexiForIllinois.com, "Issues" Dec 25, 2009

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