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Bill Richardson on Immigration
This candidate has withdrawn from the election
[Richardson] proposes a "path for earned citizenship," whereby illegal immigrants would learn to speak English, pay a fine for entering illegally and pay back taxes. Eventually, he said, they should be able to apply for citizenship if they meet all the requirements.
Mr. Richardson said he supported some sort of immigration bill that would permit people who entered the United States illegally to become citizens, and particularly opposed anything that would divide families, echoing a main criticism by opponents of the current bill.
Lastly, an earned legalization process where you establish those standards. Like, you don't give them amnesty, you don't give them automatic citizenship, but if they learn English, if they pay back taxes, embrace American values, pass a background check, they can stay and eventually apply for citizenship.
We need to find a realistic way to deal with the 12 million illegal immigrants that are in the United States already. And what I would do is start with the president's proposal, a guest worker proposal, and then move forward and find benchmarks like making sure that these individuals pay their taxes, pay a fine for being here illegally. But also, if they're participating in society, if they're going to school, if they're working, paying their taxes, they get a certain status -- not amnesty, not citizenship.
Reward those that are having some kind of a positive impact on our states -- not reward them with citizenship, not reward them with amnesty. But start a process like the president's guest worker proposal that after certain actions, certain benchmarks -- they pay for fines by being here illegally. They get background checks and screening. Then they are on a path to some kind of legalization.
The McCain-Kennedy legislation passed by the Senate this year provided an excellent framework for a guest worker program: pay an application fee, undergo a medical examination and a background check, the initial work period would be three years and it could be extended for up to three more years, if you're out of work for more than 45 days you must return to your home country or last country of residence [t]he number of guest workers allowed at any one time must be based upon the needs of the U.S. economy. The goal must be to meet demand for jobs that go unfilled by American citizens, and no more.
Richardson also discussed ways to encourage legal immigration through a guest worker program. He supports legislation passed by the Senate this year that would have guest workers pay application fees, undergo medical exams and background checks, learn English and abide by other guidelines.
We need to find a realistic way to deal with the 12 million illegal immigrants that are in the United States already. And what I would do is start with the president's proposal, a guest worker proposal, and then move forward and find benchmarks like making sure that these individuals pay their taxes, pay a fine for being here illegally. But also, if they're participating in society, if they're going to school, if they're working, paying their taxes, they get a certain status -- not amnesty, not citizenship.
The guest worker program, first posting, should be to protect American workers to have the, the top job, to, to have the jobs and not the guest workers.
"I'm not for this wall, it's not going to work."
"No fence ever built has stopped history and this one wouldn't either... have spent a lot of time at the border and I know we cannot secure it with a fence, but we can secure it with enough trained border patrol officers."
RICHARDSON: But the fence, the fence, the wall between Mexico and the United States, there's more funding for it. This wall is wrong. This wall is a terrible symbol between two countries that are friends. And you're going to have a 10-foot wall, and what's going to happen is there’s going to be 11-foot ladders going over that wall construct... Q: The wall hasn't worked? RICHARDSON: No, it hasn't worked.
"They were mistaken," the New Mexico governor said of Democrats who voted to build the 700-mile wall along the border in September. "It was a vote before the election - ill conceived."
"It's bad policy. It was done to get election votes, and the next president shouldn't build it. I wouldn't build it."
"As president, I will not militarize the border. The first thing that will go down when I am president is this wall that this congress wants to build."
Q: Would you allow these cities to ignore the federal law regarding the reporting of illegal immigrants and, in fact, provide sanctuary to these immigrants? RICHARDSON: The answer is yes. The problem we have is the lack of a comprehensive immigration policy.
Former Rep. Richardson voted NO on the Gallegly Amendment to make the pilot workplace verification program mandatory in five states.
We must crack down on employers who knowingly hire undocumented immigrants and enforce the laws already on the books. After establishing a national ID system, employers will have no excuses.
This is what we need to do in immigration my first year. One, yes, more border security, technology at the border. Number two, a stronger relationship with Mexico and Central America, to create jobs so that flow doesn't come here. Third, enforce the law. Those that knowingly hire illegal workers should be punished.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I want you to raise your hand if you believe English should be the official language of the United States (Richardson does not raise his hand).