Immigration Policy and the Founding Fathers

Thanks to Mark Curley of Curley Law, in Omaha, Newbraska for posting the following link on Facebook.  We live in an age where people regularly look to the intent of "Founding Fathers" as  a benchmark for making decisions about the direction towards which the Unites States is heading.  In the case of immigration, Elizabeth Cohen suggest that time spent in the United States and good behavior have been the hallmarks for granting citizenship rights to immigrants, both legal and illegal.

Opponents of immigration reform have raised the issue of border security as an issue that needs to be addressed before permitting people currently here illegally to adjust status that of lawful permanent resident (LPR). The border argument may or may not be a red herring, but in this global era, we should also consider laws that facilitate a freer of flow of labor across borders, rtather than restricting it.   The North American Free Trade Agreement, for istance, signed during the Clinton Administration, tore down many trade barriers that existed between Canada, Mexico and the United States.  Capital and ideas flow freely between the signatories, but the free movement of labor is stymied by laws that effectively slow the flow of labor entering the United States.  

It is encouraging that business and labor groups are working to develop such a program.    It could normalize the relationship between the economies of the United States.  Resolving such an issue may begin the process of having to determine whether "time spent" and "good behavior" warrant a grant of citzenship rights.  What would the Founding Fathers have to say? I am interested. 



http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/should-illegal-immigrants-become-citizens-lets-ask-the-founding-fathers/2013/02/01/ec3cca66-6bba-11e2-bd36-c0fe61a205f6_story.html?fb_ref=sm_btn_fb