On Immigration

The United States is a nation of immigrants and the Republicans are using this issue to gain political leverage during this election season.

Who among us doesn't descend from immigrants? Whether your family originates in Europe or Africa, Asia or the Americas, we've all come here to taste the freedom that the United States has to offer.

We need more workers to keep our economy going. Instead of sending workers back through costly deportation and fence-building we need to be investing in human capital. We cause irreparable harm to people by uprooting them and returning them to a country they no longer call home. Many people that have been deported have jobs, businesses and responsibilites on this country. It causes irreparable harm to separate them from their livelihood and their loved ones.

Why does this happen? Is it only because they "look" different and speak a different language?

I propose some type of legalization for these people who have come to work in the United States. They pay income tax and pay into the Social Security system but receive nothing in return.

SOCIAL SECURITY FOR IMMIGRANT WORKERS!

According to the Social Security Administration, the U.S. has similar
totalization agreements with other countries including Germany,
Switzerland, Belgium, Canada Norway, and the United Kingdom.

Critics are hopping mad about a totalization agreement with Mexico.
They say it will cost upwards to one billion dollars to provide Social Security benefits to Mexicans who will qualify. They say that at a time when the Social Security system is such a focus of concern, it's not time to grant such benefits to such a large group of foreigners.

Supporters say totalization benefits large numbers of Americans too,
not just foreigners in the U.S.. One of the problems, according to the
Social Security Administration, is that Americans, for example, who
have worked in both the U.S. and a foreign country may end up being
double taxed for retirement benefits. Additionally, there are some
workers who have worked, for example, for a period of time in the United
States then worked for a period of time in a foreign country, but fail
ed to qualify for benefits in either country.

The totalization agreements allow both U.S. and foreign workers to qualify for benefits based on the combined coverage of both countries. According to the
Washington Post, there are an estimated 37,000 Mexicans who worked legally in the United States and paid into Social Security but have not been
able to collect their checks.

One of the controversies of totalization is that it may include thousands of foreign workers who were in the U.S. illegally but did pay into Social Security. Immigration
reform in 1996 cut their benefits.

If we are serious about returning workers to their home country we need to compensate them for the contributions they have made to our social security system and provide an annuity pension to help them them when they return to their home country.

Border Issue

It's impossible to build a fence or wall along the US -Mexican border. It's thousands of miles long with impassable terrain in many places. Usually Mexico is to the south and the US to the north but sometimes Mexico is to the west and sometimes to the north of US! There are dry washes, rivers, mountains endless miles of desert terrain.

It's impossible and it'll never work. Anyone selling you on that idea is selling you blue sky.

The answer lies in more technology and more bodies to police the border. We don't need a Berlin Wall in the US. That wall came down and eventually any wall put up on the US -Mexico border will ultimately come down as well, despite the dollars we through at it.