By Michael Davis
Staff Writer
Issues such as jobs, economic well-being, safety and opportunity highlight the split in the immigration debate.
There were between 11.5 million and 12 million “unauthorized migrants” in the United States in March, according to estimates by the Pew Hispanic Center.
The debate over these immigrants, which has simmered in several states for years, has boiled over at the federal level and become a major election issue this year, including in the race to succeed U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist Jr., R-Tenn.
Some people say illegal immigrants are taking jobs from native-born Americans and should return home, but others say they are essential to the economy and deserve the chance to gain legal status.
“I don’t want to be negotiating my citizenship,” said Felipe Bernabe Bravo, who has lived in America eight years and said he and others should get automatic citizenship. “I think myself I’m already an American citizen.”
Joel Warren, a Chattanooga plumber, said the millions of illegal immigrants here “should have gone through proper channels” instead of breaking the law. Mr. Warren favors background checks on workers and said the fact these people are here does not mean “they should automatically be legal because we still don’t know who we’re dealing with.”
Teresa Franco, director of Esperanza Del Barrio, a local Hispanic service of the Salvation Army, said illegal immigrants who have been here for at least three years should be allowed to get a work permit to remain here. They should be able to apply for a green card, in a move toward citizenship, she said.
Ms. Franco said these people are crucial to the U.S. economy and forcing them to leave would cripple some industries.
“What’s going to happen to the factories, to the companies, to the fields?” she said.
However, Tom Murray, with the East Tennessee Council of Conservative Citizens in Kingsport, said Americans want these jobs, but now illegal immigrants are being employed at low pay. He said “neoconservatives” like President Bush “see it in their best interest to allow a flood of slave labor from Mexico and Central America to come here.”
E-mail Michael Davis at michaeld@timesfreepress.com
Staff Writer
Issues such as jobs, economic well-being, safety and opportunity highlight the split in the immigration debate.
There were between 11.5 million and 12 million “unauthorized migrants” in the United States in March, according to estimates by the Pew Hispanic Center.
The debate over these immigrants, which has simmered in several states for years, has boiled over at the federal level and become a major election issue this year, including in the race to succeed U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist Jr., R-Tenn.
Some people say illegal immigrants are taking jobs from native-born Americans and should return home, but others say they are essential to the economy and deserve the chance to gain legal status.
“I don’t want to be negotiating my citizenship,” said Felipe Bernabe Bravo, who has lived in America eight years and said he and others should get automatic citizenship. “I think myself I’m already an American citizen.”
Joel Warren, a Chattanooga plumber, said the millions of illegal immigrants here “should have gone through proper channels” instead of breaking the law. Mr. Warren favors background checks on workers and said the fact these people are here does not mean “they should automatically be legal because we still don’t know who we’re dealing with.”
Teresa Franco, director of Esperanza Del Barrio, a local Hispanic service of the Salvation Army, said illegal immigrants who have been here for at least three years should be allowed to get a work permit to remain here. They should be able to apply for a green card, in a move toward citizenship, she said.
Ms. Franco said these people are crucial to the U.S. economy and forcing them to leave would cripple some industries.
“What’s going to happen to the factories, to the companies, to the fields?” she said.
However, Tom Murray, with the East Tennessee Council of Conservative Citizens in Kingsport, said Americans want these jobs, but now illegal immigrants are being employed at low pay. He said “neoconservatives” like President Bush “see it in their best interest to allow a flood of slave labor from Mexico and Central America to come here.”
E-mail Michael Davis at michaeld@timesfreepress.com
