Immigration

SECURE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER TO STEM THE TIDE OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AND TRAFFICKING, SUPPORT MANAGED IMMIGRATION AND ESTABLISH A PATH TO CITIZENSHIP FOR IMMIGRANTS IN LIMBO WHO HAVE BEEN HERE FOR MANY YEARS
Though illegal immigration is generally bad for California and the nation, managed immigration with proper vetting makes us stronger and more culturally diverse.

We absolutely must control our southern border. The Democratic Party has a lot of gall these days pretending to be the party of women’s rights, labor and the working class.

First of all, the current open borders policy is resulting in the wholesale sexual abuse and enslavement of women and children whose lives are in the hands of traffickers. Thousands of these children have been kidnapped from their families in Guatemala and Honduras by drug cartels for use as props to get across the border. It breaks my heart to hear our Customs and Border Patrol officers characterized as brutes, when I have listened to their emotional stories of rescuing toddlers abandoned in the desert, rocking crying children to sleep, treating their wounds and combing the lice from their hair. Thousands of unaccompanied children, many too young to know where home was, have crossed the border and are trapped in a system where love is in short supply. We need tax incentives and a massive media campaign to encourage more people to become foster and/or adoptive parents. Finishing the border wall will reduce human trafficking, as well as trafficking in drugs and weapons and reduce the violence plaguing our border communities.

Secondly, unchecked illegal immigration negatively impacts American workers, particularly unskilled workers in Latino and black communities. As a workforce, illegal immigrants accepting “under the table” jobs reduce the availability of jobs for citizens and legal residents and puts downwards pressure on wages, while increasing the demand and cost of housing. This is economics 101!

However, we also have millions of immigrants who came here illegally, were brought here as children or who overstayed their visas, but who have been living and working in this country for ten, twenty years or more. These are productive members of our society, and we need to help them out of limbo and onto a path towards citizenship. This is not a doors wide open amnesty, but a way to help people who have earned their right to be here over many years.