What do you think of the "Pence Plan?"
Last week House Republican Mike Pence met with President Bush and Vice President Cheney to express his thoughts on the newly proposed immigration bill. Pence is pushing for border enforcement first as opposed to immediately implementing a path to citizenship for the 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. According to an interview with Pence, the president seemed “intrigued” by the plan. This is disturbing considering the number of times Bush has said that it would be “impractical to deport those who have built lives here.” Pence’s proposed plan would force every illegal immigrant to go home for a brief time and then return and complete six years in the guest worker program. This would not only be a huge blow to the workforce and consumer markets but also a step backwards. What about the people who have lived here for years? Shouldn’t we be encouraging the illegal residents to learn our language and to pay taxes? Shouldn’t we be supporting a path to citizenship now?