Tuesday, December 21, 2010

800,000 Undocumented Workers Will Be Deported By U.S. ICE Within Two Years, Congressman Gutierrez Projects

Luis V. Gutierrez
U.S. Congressman

What's next? President Barack H. Obama could pardon all the undocumented immigrants, including students in the U.S. and those being detained and in the process of being deported. Nationally, Latinos can manage their U.S. multi-billion spending power to influence change in America.

By H. Nelson Goodson
December 21, 2010

Washington, D.C. - On Tuesday, U.S. Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL) in a press release stated, with the current ICE deportation rate, 800,000 undocumented workers (immigrants) will be deported by November 2012. Gutierrez, Chairman of the Immigration Task Force of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, attended a meeting today at the White House with President Barack H. Obama, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), and Reps. Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Charlie Gonzalez (D-TX) and Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) to discuss immigration reform in the wake of the Republican-led filibuster that effectively killed the DREAM Act for this Congress.
Gutierrez stated, "We had a good meeting and were able to debrief about the very disappointing DREAM Act result in the Senate. The President shares our frustration that despite winning strong bipartisan majorities in both chambers, a handful of Senators were able to block the DREAM Act. It is disillusioning that Republicans who once championed the DREAM Act hid behind procedural excuses or just plane flip-flopped and voted to kill this important bill and the hopes and dreams of so many students and young people.
The President knows that immigration reform and the DREAM Act are struggles that continue and he indicated he wanted to meet with us again right after the New Year to map out strategy. With the Republicans taking over in the House, whose leaders are strongly opposed to immigration and immigration reform, we will likely be playing a great deal of defense for the next two years. Obviously, the President's veto pen is a crucial weapon agains against radically anti-immigrant policies.
At the same time, we cannot afford to be content with just a defensive struggle, fighting attempts to make legal immigration and legality for immigrants harder than they already are. At the current rate another 800,000 people will be deported by the time November 2012 comes around, which does nothing to fix our immigration system and rips apart communities and families and the very fabric of our society. The President understands how important this issue is to the Latino community, so we have to work together to make progress as soon as possible."
On Saturday, the DREAM Act failed to pass the U.S Senate by 5 votes, 55-14 vote result, 60 votes were needed to move for cloture and than a final vote on bil H.R. 5281.
Five Democrats voted no and three Republicans voted yes to move forward with HR 5281. Here's how these Senators voted; Republicans who voted to advance the bill were U.S. Senators, Bob Bennett (R-Utah), Richard Lugar (R-Indiana) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). Democrats against it included Max Baucus (D-Montana), Jon Tester (D-Montana), Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska), Kay Hagan (D-North Carolina), and Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas).
The action taken by the U.S. Senate is a major set back for the Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM Act) and the change over on January wil even make it more difficult to advance and approve any type of immigration reform bill. Republicans will have control of the U.S. House in January and most likely won't pass any immigration reform bill for the next several years.
The House had passed the DREAM Act by 216-198.
In recent years, America has been kept out of bankruptcy by the undocumented workers share of billions of tax dollars they have contributed into the federal government for decades, which they don't claim. They even supported the Social Security fund, which they don't claim when they retire and the tax dollar flow continues from undocumented workers in the U.S. The Congressional Budget Office has never provided a comprehensive report on these accumilative tax funds.
The DREAM Act would have provided a pathway to citizenship for undocumented students who were brought to the U.S. at a young age of 16 and lived in the U.S. for five years. Students must have graduated from a credited high school or have completed the G.E.D., have good moral character, pass a background check and complete at least two years of college or military service.
The moment is upon us, with the latest DREAM Act failure to pass and any future passage of an immigration reform bill looks bleak. What's next on the national Hispanic agenda to influence immigration reform?
President Obama could pardon all the undocumented immigrants, including students in the U.S. and those being detained and in the process of being deported. He has the authority to grant an executive pardon to all of those who violated a civil federal violation for being in the U.S. illegally. Will Obama exercise his executive power to grant clemency? We'll have to wait.
In brief, Hispanics have formed national networks to communicate, have flex their voting power multiple times, and have a multi-billion dollar purchasing wealth. But, what good does it do for Latinos?, if they can't manage their own spending dollar. The most empowering strategic move today, is for Latinos in the U.S. to spread the word through texting, e-mails and social networks, to advocate and engage in limited spending. Latinos should buy bare essentials only and support businesses that support immigration reform. Don't over spend, but spend within Latino communities.
Latinos need to adapt by managing their economic buying power of an estimated $1.3 trillion by 2013. Hispanics managing their earned money and where to spend it should last until an immigration reform bill is passed.
Latinos throughout the U.S. should step up a notch and keep a tight grip on their money. Hispanics are loved and credited for their ability to spend money, purchasing products, a lack to save and pouring billions of dollars into the economy benefiting America's financial enterprizes and government. These enterprizes, government and politicians have taken Latinos for granted for so long because they can't control their spending power and it's time to change that stigma.
Join the movement by limiting your spending and managing your dollar's buying power. An easy accomplishment to do, once the benefits are foreseen.
Spend the dollar where it counts and it will bring you the outmost satisfaction to influence change in America. ;)

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