Undocumented immigration demands attention

March 29, 2018 | G. Michael Dobbs
news@thereminder.com

The reaction from Mayor Dominic Sarno did not come as a surprise to those of us who have followed his stance on sheltering undocumented immigrants in the city of Springfield. He has long maintained a position of little tolerance toward the concept of sanctuary.

The mayor said in a statement, “Well, their recruitment efforts have paid off for them in defiance of the edict that we are not a sanctuary city. As stated prior in June 2017, our city’s code enforcement inspection and public safety teams upon visit deemed the church property unsuitable to house individuals/families under the state’s sanitary code. They are in violation of building and housing codes and proper non-taxable use of their property. Our city inspection teams will be notified. I am disappointed that they would use and exploit this family for their own causes. Now, I am not a cold-hearted person and do have compassion for the family in question, but there must be a clear path to American citizenship, whether it’s this case in Springfield or in other parts of our country. Being first generation, it’s simply not fair to all those immigrants, including my parents, who played by the rules and followed the legal immigration path into America.”

Sarno doesn’t want to break federal law and he does not want the tag of being a sanctuary city, even though that designation’s meaning varies from community to community.

Sarno followed that statement up with one seeking to strip the South Congregational Church of its tax exempt status.

My family is full of legal immigrants – my wife and my foster daughter – both of whom waited to get into this country. I understand the criticism about illegals jumping the line, so to speak.

Deportation doesn’t seem like a legitimate idea to me, though, unless the person in question is a convicted criminal

Last summer the people behind the coalition estimated there could be as many as 6,000 undocumented immigrants in the city. In a way I'm surprised it has taken a better part of a year for the coalition to be approached by someone seeking protection.

The sanctuary movement is no solution to the issue of how local, state and federal governments deal with this issue. Its greatest value is to call attention to this problem.

This is another massive issue, along with health care reform, that should be addressed by Congress. It is also another problem that seems to be beyond the grasp of Congress to even discuss.

This is getting to be old. On the national scale this issue is filling an all too familiar template. Most Americans agree there is a problem but finding a bipartisan approach seems to escape the ideologues who seem to revel in gridlock.

We have to acknowledge how many of our industries depend upon the labor provided by undocumented immigrants. We have to acknowledge they have children who are American citizens. We have to acknowledge many of them pay taxes and serve in the military.

Will a wall solve the issue? Considering that many illegal immigrants are people who have stayed past their visas, I’m not too sure.

We need comprehensive immigration reform to address every aspect of the issue and we need it now.

Are we going to get it? Your guess is as good as mine.

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