Dear Editor:
Now that the election is over and President Bush will have both houses of Congress in his pocket, what is he going to do about immigration? Since the year 2000, the president has referred to the US-Mexican immigration question on many occasions. He has repeated many times: "I do believe that when we find a willing employer and a willing employee, we ought to match the two. We ought to make it easier for people who want to employ somebody, who are looking for workers, to be able to hire people who want to work."
Mr. President, I am a willing employer who has found a willing employee who wants to work, but just how do you propose that I go about hiring this person? I am prepared to sign an affidavit of support and/or whatever other papers that may be necessary to legally hire this individual but attorneys who specialize in immigration law inform me that at this time mine is an impossible quest.
To think that over 3,000,000 undocumented Mexican immigrants are reported to be in this country (64,000 in Columbus, Ohio alone) and it is impossible to sponsor even one legally, is beyond my comprehension. When Mr. Clinton was president he recognized the immigration contribution to our economy when he proposed some sort of status be included for them at the time of his budget discussions with Congress, but he was unsuccessful.
Mr. President, your friend and supporter, Mayor Guiliani, in his farewell address pointed out (to New Yorkers) that "the key to our success as a city, the reason we are the most famous city in the world, and the reason why we are really legitimately the capital of the world is really just one thing: immigration."
Mr. President: Do you agree?
Richard E. Baer
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