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Achieving the “American Dream” Through Legal Immigration
Immigrants founded our nation and are vital to the success of California’s economy. In order to have a secure and safe society, I call for the strict enforcement of current immigration laws, including sanctions on employers who knowingly or recklessly employ illegal immigrants. The federal government should lift current caps on immigration by skilled workers, and institute a temporary guest worker program for workers in understaffed industries such as agriculture. These policies will foster California’s competitive edge and mitigate the tide of illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants who seek to legitimize their status must go to the back of the line and wait their turn to become Americans, just as their legal immigrant counterparts have done.
With exceptions for elderly relatives in family reunification situations, immigrants who desire to become citizens should learn English, which should be the language of all official government communications. Transitional educational instruction in other languages may be used for short periods of time to ensure that immigrant children do not fall behind as they move toward full integration into American society. I support legal immigration of separated families to reunite legal, productive immigrants with their close family members. Laws and policies encouraging illegal immigration must be overturned. Local law enforcement officials in major cities should be trained to support federal immigration efforts, at federal expense. Californians should not pay for higher education of illegal immigrants at public universities.
