Immigration Rally 5/1/06

So tomorrow probably half of my town will "opt out of the economy" tomorrow to draw attention to immigration reform. Basically no one is going to work or school and no one is spending any money, no food, no gasoline, nothing.

My girlfriend and I have been having a heated debate about this subject all day and I wanted some feedback from you guys as well, especially those of you in California. What's your stance on Immigration?

Here's an example of what is being asked for, I copied and pasted from an email sent to me by the Valuing Diversity Workgroup.

We believe that all federal, state and local policies or regulations regarding immigration or immigrants should be guided by the following principles:

Children should never be punished by the immigration status of their family. Basic needs such as food, education, housing and health care (including preventive care such as inoculations) should not be denied. And children should not be required to provide information on the immigration status of their parents.
Maintaining the family unit should be a fundamental principle and goal. Recognizing the complex, multi-generational stories of immigration within individual American families of all kinds should undergird our attempts to make fairer, more humane immigration policies.

Cooperation and trust between immigrants and persons in the helping professions--including doctors, nurses, social workers, teachers, clergy and others—should be supported rather than curtailed by immigration policy reforms. This trust necessitates leaving investigative work to immigration authorities rather than those in the helping professions. Government practices that decrease the health and safety of some members of a community are a threat to the entire community.

Government actions should contribute to increased cooperation and collaboration among all communities, and should ensure that harassment of or discrimination against individuals of particular ethnicities based on name, accent, skin color, religious affiliation or national origin does not occur. For example, over-representation of undocumented persons from any country should not lead to governmental powers that intrude on the rights and privileges of others from that country who are U.S. citizens or legal residents. No racial, ethnic or religious group should be explicitly or implicitly targeted for enforcement. Undocumented persons from all groups should be addressed similarly in policy and practice.

Any abusive behavior by law enforcement agencies toward undocumented immigrants is intolerable and should be addressed through adequate training, supervision, and effective accountability measures. Similarly, enforcement personnel should be treated with respect and dignity, and sanctions arising from abusive behavior toward them should be equally firm.

6. Visa over-stays represent more undocumented immigration than illegal border crossings, yet most enforcement focuses on illegal border crossings. Enforcement resources should be allocated equitably without regard to the means of entry.

7. Because U.S. immigration problems are often the result of another nation’s emigration problems, the United States should expand its work with other nations, collaborating to assist them in developing economic opportunities and humane political structures and reforms. Such measures will, in the long term, effect the most improvement in U.S. immigration problems.

8. Immigrants who are in The United States legally but do not have citizenship status have long been part of the free enterprise system that is the engine of the great communities of our nation. Their skills and abilities are critical to U.S. competition in the international marketplace. Sanctions should not be imposed and benefits should not be denied to those who have been and who continue to be builders of our collective dream.