April 2009 Archives
WSJ Weekend Journal calling again for end of prohibition on illegal drugs. Very well written. US could save $10 billion dollars fighting the trade and reprimanding people, and instead, raise $10 billion dollars by taxing it, thereby spending it on prevention and awareness programs, like Portugual started in 2001. Fighting the drug cartels, reminds me of the 2000 movie, Traffic. As the leaders are captured, others move in and continue to the trade.
From the election year 2000 presidential campaigns of Vincente Fox and George Bush, one would have thought the United States-Mexico relationship would have been better and closer 4 years later. After repeated attempts, the relationship started and stopped, and eventually went silent.
President Obama heads to
The United States has spent the last 3 years building fences and/or barriers on the border, staffing up on Border Patrol agents, building several high capacity H2A/H2B processing centers (the Backlog Elimination Centers were closed at the end of Dec. 2007), boosting staff levels at USCIS (with new IT resources and applications), processing citizenship applications faster than ever, and implementing e-verify for employers.
These were the key components that many of the Congressional opponents requested to have in place before any further discussion on immigration matters; they have now almost all been accomplished.
We now have the appropriate infrastructure in place to resolve a lot of unfinished business between the two countries, and both countries are seeking resolution to these matters in the very near future.
As envisioned two months ago by us at myworkvisa.us, immigration resolution is set for 2010.
The New York Times reported yesterday the Obama Administration will push immigration resolution as a priority this year:
Mr. Obama plans to speak publicly about the issue in May, administration officials said, and over the summer he will convene working groups, including lawmakers from both parties and a range of immigration groups, to begin discussing possible legislation for as early as this fall.
Today, the Wall Street Journal confirms that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is now in favor of immigration resolution.
While Mr. Emanuel once predicted that comprehensive immigration reform wouldn't be considered until the second term of a Democratic president, he now says conversations on the issue will begin this year to lay the groundwork for possible action in 2010. The issue is also likely to arise next week when President Barack Obama travels to Mexico to meet with President Felipe Calderón.
