Latino Congressional Democrats: learn English, pay taxes to become citizen

Ianus · 11-28-2012, 04:19 PM

In a prior article,it was mentioned House Democrats specifically the Congressional Hispanic Caucus would release their principles for immigration reform,which they have.This article lead me to those same principles.

Quote:

The message from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) was loud and clear. All undocumented immigrants would have to register with the federal government and submit to background checks, learn English and United States civics, and pay taxes. The group’s announcement this morning of a sweeping, 9-point immigration reform plan – rather than another immigration bill sponsored by a Latino legislator – is the group’s good-faith effort to lay on the table the foundation of bipartisan immigration legislation. But what is also clear, according to Illinois Democratic congressman Luis Gutierrez, is that immigration reform has to be one of the first priorities of the new Congress.

“Elections are very useful things,” said congressman Gutierrez. “All of a sudden we are the belle of the ball, and it’s time to start the dance,” he stated.

“A new America spoke out, and the message was clear,” said New Jersey Democratic Senator Robert Menendez. “They told us the landscape has changed, and the first order of business should be comprehensive immigration reform,” Menendez said.

Clarissa Martinez de Castro, Director of Immigration and National Campaigns at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), says this first point – having undocumented immigrants “come out of the shadows” and integrate themselves into the country, “is the kind of process Americans are looking for; we as a country value the process of integration, and it is that final step that makes immigrants fully vested, and creates the sense that we are all in the same boat,” she adds.

The other points in the immigration reform proposal include a provision to keep families – including same-sex families – together. It seeks to increase the number of investors, innovators and those in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math) immigrating to the U.S. It proposes a system to legally bring in foreign workers to fill in labor force gaps, as well as give agricultural workers a route to citizenship. It urges “smart and reasonable” enforcement of both the southern and northern borders, and it calls for a “workable” employer verification system while protecting Americans’ right to work. The proposal also calls for bringing Dreamers into the citizenship process. Lastly, the plan strongly reaffirms the 14th amendment – that any child born in this country, regardless of the parent’s status, is an American.

“This last one, reaffirming the 14th amendment, is what has made everyone in our country an American – out of many, one,” says NCLR’s Martinez de Castro.

Senator Menendez brought up another issue - the economic imperative of immigration reform. ”It is in our economic interest that we come to an agreement to bring in people out of the shadows,” he said. Menendez cited the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office report that found immigration reform would raise federal revenues by 48 billion in ten years, and another report saying reform would increase the nation’s GDP by 1.5 trillion in a decade.

The question now is whether legislators from both sides of the aisle will be able to hammer out immigration reform, something which has proven elusive in the last few years. Some Latinos are optimistic.

“There is a business imperative – more and more people in the business community are pushing for this,” says NCLR’s Martinez de Castro. ”There is also a political imperative, and you heard it from some of the Republican party ranks in the aftermath and the election,” she adds.

“I think elements from the left, right and center are coming together,” Martinez de Castro adds. “It’s the convergence of all these interests that give momentum to get to the finish line, though it will nevertheless be challenging to get there.”

Tortoise77 · 11-28-2012, 05:00 PM

Learn english and US history/ civics LOL easy for us!!

justjohnjustice1988 · 11-28-2012, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tortoise77

Learn english and US history/ civics LOL easy for us!!

well if someone wants to be part of this country, then you gotta learn the basics.

DA User · 11-28-2012, 10:15 PM

Sounds good to me. Whatever it takes to get it passed.

IamAman · 11-29-2012, 12:42 AM

lol sign me up. My first priority when I came here at 10 was to learn English. I guess it was easier since I had no contact with anybody from my home country, no TV stations in my language, no radio stations, and overall it was sink or swim.

DA User · 11-29-2012, 01:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IamAman

lol sign me up. My first priority when I came here at 10 was to learn English. I guess it was easier since I had no contact with anybody from my home country, no TV stations in my language, no radio stations, and overall it was sink or swim.

I think early 2013 is the time for CIR.

Osito · 11-29-2012, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IamAman

lol sign me up. My first priority when I came here at 10 was to learn English. I guess it was easier since I had no contact with anybody from my home country, no TV stations in my language, no radio stations, and overall it was sink or swim.

yeah, but you were also a child. it's a lot easier to learn a language when you're still a child.

IamAman · 11-30-2012, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Osito

yeah, but you were also a child. it's a lot easier to learn a language when you're still a child.

It may be harder but if people put in the effort and don't take shortcuts, it's not. The first generation of my family who came here came in their 30's and were international students. They had to take the TOEFL test which is pretty hard since it has a pronunciation part too (or at least it did in the 1960s)

I guess the response would be "well your relative was a PhD Student, he was smarter than average". Well, yeah, he was a freak who got a full ride but then my own father is not the brightest person and also learned English among with 2 other languages.

"But he was still a college student"

Ok, another sibling came here 10 years after I did in his 20's(who ironically is a USC), and when it comes to book smarts, he is dumb as a doornail (It think he was dropped as a child), has a habit of farting often, and overall has never read a book in his life speaks very fluent English and also knows another language in addition to his native tongue. His motivation was he didn't want to be treated as yet another dumb immigrant in the eyes of the natives and he wanted to move up.

I could go on, but you get the picture about people who learned the language. On the other hand, I work with two Mexican fellows who have been here longer than I have - one got in on the first amnesty in 1986...the other one I'm not sure but I guess it's the same thing. One has broken English but can get by, but the other one talks at a 3 year old level in English. Saddest part is that he is very good at what he does and if he learned English, he could make 40% more than what he does now but he can't deal with customers directly.

Now I know what you're thinking...these dudes had to come here and break their backs to work and make it. I really respect that; however, at work, all they do is listen to spanish speaking radio - I'm not talking NPR Latino or something sophisticated either - mostly the morning shows where the hosts making honking sounds and the sexy girl talking and such.

I've also made the effort to bring them brochures from evening ESL classes for adults that the community colleges offer which are often even free or at most $50...nothing.

So yes, it will take some effort and some people will not master the language or have an accent, but I really believe that if you want to be a part of this country, this is the absolute least you can do. Unlike other things in life, this is 100% in your control. I'm even ok with learning US history (at least until the civil war) and a basic knowledge of government.

Osito · 11-30-2012, 12:35 PM

I agree with everything you've said. I agree that everyone should put forth the effort.

I taught ESL classes for two years and it was mostly hard working folks who wanted a better position at their job so they came to night classes 3 times a week for 3 hours at a time. A good amount of them picked it up fairly quickly but a lot of them struggled because English is an incredibly complicated language.

Anyways, I was just saying that its very hard to learn a new language when you're older. I know because I really tried to learn French and, while I can still get by, I would get completely lost if someone spoke it to me in a natural fluent manner. haha.

IamAman · 11-30-2012, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Osito

I agree with everything you've said. I agree that everyone should put forth the effort.

I taught ESL classes for two years and it was mostly hard working folks who wanted a better position at their job so they came to night classes 3 times a week for 3 hours at a time. A good amount of them picked it up fairly quickly but a lot of them struggled because English is an incredibly complicated language.

Anyways, I was just saying that its very hard to learn a new language when you're older. I know because I really tried to learn French and, while I can still get by, I would get completely lost if someone spoke it to me in a natural fluent manner. haha.

Well I've tried to learn Spanish by listening to Pilmsler's courses in my car and such but I just know how to say a few sentences and sometimes get the gist of what someone is saying so it's not easy (I'm an old 37 ). I haven't taken any real classes on it (why did I take German in HS?) so I have no idea why objects are considered masculine or feminine and will probably never learn beyond ordering food and asking where the bathroom is.

On the other hand, my life doesn't depend on learning Spanish the way it would if I had just moved to Spain or Colombia and in that case I would drop everything and try to learn the language.

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Latino Congressional Democrats: learn English, pay taxes to become citizen