Speak Up On Immigration

The Senate compromise on immigration that was announced yesterday appears to have fallen apart, at least for the moment, and will be taken up again today, and when the Senate returns from its Easter recess. Then, assuming a bill passes the Senate, it will need to be reconciled with a very different House bill, and the resulting product voted on by both chambers.

So now is the time for conservatives to make ourselves heard. We are running a poll on Power Line News, where you can express your preference as to what the top priority of our immigration policy should be. We hope the results may have some influence with lawmakers–Republican lawmakers, anyway–as they approach a decision on this important issue.

We put the poll up last night–I discussed it here–and already more than 2,500 people have voted. There are eight possible answers, all of which are intended to state fairly the competing priorities on the issue. So far, our readers seem to be speaking very clearly. You can vote once every 24 hours; we will probably run the poll for five to seven days, and then make sure that Congressmen and Senators see the results.

UPDATE: In the current context, it is interesting to see the direction in which France is moving:

France, like other European countries, is taking a harder look at the immigrants it lets in.

French Interior Minister and presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy championed a bill that would make it more difficult for poor immigrants with little education and few skills to start a new life in France — long one of Europe’s most coveted destinations for immigrants.
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Nearly sixteen years later, mother and son became French thanks to a provision that allows foreigners to apply for citizenship after 10 years in the country — even if they were here illegally.

That is one of many immigrant-friendly provisions that would be scrapped under Sarkozy’s immigration bill.

Sarkozy, whose father immigrated here from Hungary, argues that France should take a more pro-active approach to immigration by hand-picking foreign workers.

“France cannot be the only country in the world that refuses to adapt its immigration policy to its economic needs and its capacity to absorb new arrivals,” Sarkozy said recently.

Not the only one, I’m afraid.

Via Power Line News.

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