Assessing Overall Candidate Promises

EDITOR'S NOTE: All of a candidates' actions and promises on immigration are considered in these three overarching categories --

• what do you do with the 12-20 million illegal aliens already here;
• what do you do to stop future illegal immigration, and
• what do you do to protect American workers and communities from the current peak flood of foreign workers?

Amnesty & Attrition Through Enforcement

Assessment of Past Immigration Actions
in Political Office

2003: Voted for S. 1545, to reward illegal aliens with amnesty
Sen. Edwards voted as part of the Judiciary Committee for S. 1545 to reward certain college-age illegal aliens with amnesty. 

Click here for more AMNESTY actions.

2004: Cosponsored S. 2252 to increase low-skill worker importation
Sen. Edwards cosponsored S. 2252 to increase by 40,000 the annual cap for 2004 on H-2B visas for low-kill, temporary foreign workers. 

Click here for more FOREIGN WORKER actions.

2003: Voted for S. 1545, to reward illegal aliens with in-state tution and amnesty
Sen. Edwards voted as part of the Judiciary Committee for S. 1545 to encourage illegal immigration by granting in-state tuition rates to certain college-age illegal aliens. 

Click here for more STATE AID TO ILLEGAL STUDENTS actions.

2002: Cosponsored S. 2444 that would compromise border control efforts
Sen. Edwards cosponsored S. 2444, an INS restructuring bill that would have potentially compromised border control efforts by redefining immigration law to include not only the Immigration and Nationality Act but also Executive Orders and international agreements. 

Click here for more BORDER CONTROL actions.

2002: Cosponsored S. 2444 that would assist illegal immigration
Sen. Edwards cosponsored S. 2444 would have added thousands of illegal aliens to the population each year by greatly reducing the detention of asylum applicants while their cases are pending, thus allowing them to disappear into the public.  

Click here for more INTERIOR ENFORCEMENT actions.

Assessing Specific Stances on LEGAL IMMIGRATION

EDITOR'S NOTE: Unless the following four categories of legal immigration are changed, current policies will add 100 million additional people to the United States over the next few decades.

CHAIN MIGRATION

VISA LOTTERY

IMPORTING FOREIGN WORKERS

Citizenship for Births to ILLEGAL ALIENS

Assessing Specific Stances on ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

EDITORS NOTE: Here are 8 very important steps needed to halt illegal immigration. Aspects not included in this section are included in the section above about Overall Policies on Future Illegal Immigration.

MANDATORY WORKPLACE VERIFICATION

PUNISHING EMPLOYERS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS  

ENTRY/EXIT SYSTEM AT BORDERS

BORDER SECURITY

• Borders: Edwards supports substantial increases in the ranks of the Department of Homeland Security, Border Patrol, and consular officials to secure our borders.
• Seaports: Over 1 million passengers and pedestrians, 327,000 vehicles, and 70,000 shipping containers come into the United States through ports of entry each day. Only 80% of the country's ports have the ability to screen for nuclear and radiological materials and weapons. Edwards would require the following steps: 100% of all foreign ports should screen within five year, with no extensions; 100% of all U.S. ports should screen within three years; and “smart containers” should be made available to shippers that will detect and report entries into containers so anything dangerous can be quickly spotted. [DHS, 2006]
• Air Cargo: The 23 billion pounds of air cargo that enter the U.S. annually are only partially screened today. Edwards would request a National Intelligence Estimate on the mid- to long-term threat to passenger air travel; at least double the volume of air cargo inspected within three years; and work through the new Counterterrorism and Intelligence Treaty Organization (CITO) he has proposed to establish stronger multilateral global air cargo security standards. JohnEdwards.com

SANCTUARY CITIES POLICIES

DRIVER'S LICENSES FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS

STATE AID TO ILLEGAL STUDENTS

Born in Seneca, South Carolina in 1953, John Edwards grew up in Robbins, a small town in North Carolina's Piedmont Country. His father, Wallace, worked in textile mills for 36 years. His mother, Bobbie, ran a small furniture refinishing shop and later worked as a postal employee. 

A product of North Carolina public schools, Edwards was the first person in his family to go to college. He worked his way through North Carolina State University and graduated with a degree in textiles in 1974. He earned a law degree in 1977 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Edwards' refusal to reduce the unprecedented levels of legal immigrants entering our country undermines many of his public policy goals. The problems he recognizes concerning American workers and the environment, for example, are all exacerbated by high immigration. Democratic candidates need to be reminded that 76 percent of all Democrats believe we should restrict and control immigration more, according to a November 2003 study by the Pew Research Center. [Click here for the study (p. 36) and here for a ProjectUSA article about it.]