John Kerry

Last Updated:
September 28, 2004

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Campaign Web Site: www.johnkerry.com/

Main Campaign Address:

National Headquarters
John Kerry for President, Inc.
519 C Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002
Phone: 202-548-6800
Fax: 202-548-6800

Kerry lists seventeen other offices around the country on his website.

E-Mail: info@johnkerry.com

For meetup specific questions: meetup@johnkerry.com

REDUCE LEGAL IMMIGRATION -- opposes

Senator John Kerry has had seventeen years in the U.S. Senate to vote on bills that could have lowered immigration levels, but he has consistently voted for high immigration. 

In June 2004, Senator Kerry put a new immigration page on his website entitled "Extending The American Dream, Reforming America’s Immigration Laws." In it he spells out an immigration policy that, instead of reducing immigration numbers, would: (a) grant amnesties and legalize illegal aliens and (b) set up visa programs that focus on the rights of the foreign worker while providing no guarantees that these foriegn workers aren't stealing jobs from Americans.

[To read Senator Kerry's immigration page go to www.johnkerry.com/issues/civil_rights/immigration.html.]

REMARKS DURING THE THIRD PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

In the presidential debate at Tempe, Arizona, on October 13, 2004, Kerry and Bush were asked about their views of the high rate of illegal immigration by moderator Bob Schieffer. The president answered first, emphasizing his attempts to improve border security. Senator Kerry responded this way:

"Now with respect to immigration reform, the president broke his promise on immigration reform. He said he would reform it. Four years later he is now promising another plan.

"Here's what I'll do: Number one, the borders are more leaking today than they were before 9/11. The fact is, we haven't done what we need to do to toughen up our borders, and I will.

"Secondly, we need a guest-worker program, but if it's all we have, it's not going to solve the problem. The second thing we need is to crack down on illegal hiring. It's against the law in the United States to hire people illegally, and we ought to be enforcing that law properly.

"And thirdly, we need an earned-legalization program for people who have been here for a long time, stayed out of trouble, got a job, paid their taxes, and their kids are American. We got to start moving them toward full citizenship, out of the shadows."

THE ECONOMY AND AMERICAN WORKERS

Kerry began his answer to the AFL-CIO survey question regarding immigration:

"Immigrants add more than $10 billion each year to the American economy. And this doesn't even count the contributions of immigrant-owned business. We need the energy and enterprise of immigrants -- and that means we need root-and-branch reform of our nations' immigration policy."

Kerry's comment on immigration helping the economy is unfounded. The National Research Council (NRC) has estimated that the net fiscal cost of immigration ranges from $11 billion to $22 billion per year. Furthermore, as the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) has pointed out, the NRC study's estimates tell us that "the overall impact of immigration is miniscule in an $8 trillion economy" and that "the primary economic effect of immigration is to redistribute income from the poor and unskilled to skilled workers and owners of capital."  [Click here for more on the NRC's findings and CIS's analysis.]

Simply put, high immigration harms American workers. Federal policies of high immigration interfere with market forces that otherwise would cause corporations and other employers to find ways to maximize American wages and working conditions while also maximizing productivity. The U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, chaired by the late Barbara Jordan, concluded that present immigration numbers are a source of economic injustice in this country. The Commission recommended lowering immigration numbers significantly.

THE ENVIRONMENT

Furthermore, on his website, Kerry pledges "A Cleaner and Greener America" and presents himself as an environmental leader. He lists among his environmental policy priorities: "restor[ing] America's waters," "reducing dangerous air emissions," and "tak[ing] on traffic congestion and sprawl." [www.johnkerry.com/issues/environment/]

None of these goals are attainable without reducing the unprecedentally high numbers of immigrants entering our nation each year.

The Center for Immigration Studies/NumbersUSA 2003 report Outsmarting Smart Growth: Population Growth, Immigration, and the Problem of Sprawl, for example, demonstrated that immigration-driven population growth is responsible for half of all sprawl. Each person added makes our country's environmental goals of clear air and water more and more difficult to achieve.

Senator Kerry also talks about enacting a "Conservation Covenant with America" on his website. High population growth, fueled largely by immigration, however, is overwhelming our natural resources. Immigration accounts for 87 percent of the annual increase in U.S. population, according to 2002 Census Bureau data. [Center for Immigration Studies/NumbersUSA, "Outsmarting Smart Growth," 2003]

Concerned Kerry supporters should ask the Senator how he can achieve his environmental goals while still supporting a more-than-doubling of the U.S. Population.

IMMIGRATION REFORM

In a January 1, 2004, Des Moines Register story, Sen. Kerry demonstrated a limited view of immigration reform. He asserted that immigration reform is needed "so that people don't have to die in the desert to find a better life for themselves."

In June 2004, Sen. Kerry revised his website, moving his immigration page under the subsection "civil rights" and renaming the page: "Extending The American Dream Reforming America’s Immigration Laws."

Furthermore, Sen. Kerry's promise of offering an "Immigration Reform Bill Within First 100 Days," is really an offering of an amnesty bill within his first 100 days. It would be helpful to clarify for Sen. Kerry that true immigration reform must encompass enforcing our laws and bringing the immigration numbers down.

CHAIN MIGRATION -- supports

Senator Kerry voted in 1996 to continue the chain migration system that has been the primary reason for annual immigration levels snowballing from less than 300,000 in 1965 to around a million today. Sen. Kerry voted AGAINST both the Simpson Amendment and the Feinstein Amendment to S. 1664.

"Family Reunification" is the misguided rationale behind basing U.S. immigration on the practice of chain migration. Chain Migration is "family reunification" beyond the nuclear family. Until the late 1950s, America's immigration tradition of family unity had only included spouses and minor children.

Since then, immigrants can also send for their siblings, parents and adult children. Because each of those can then bring in their own adult relatives and nuclear family, a single immigrant can eventually be responsible for the arrival in the United States of his/her aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, first cousins, second cousins once-removed, in a spiraling chain that eventually could reach most of the world's 6 billion-plus residents.

The claim that Chain Migration is about "family reunification" ignores the fact that each immigrant who comes to the U.S. "disunites" another family by leaving some new relatives behind. If a person really wants to live near his/her extended family, he/she should remain in the country where that extended family lives. Except for the very small percentage of each year's newcomers who are refugees, nobody is forcing immigrants to leave their families.

Chain Migration was cited by the bi-partisan Commission on Immigration Reform, chaired by the late Barbara Jordan, as an essential device that runs immigration numbers so high that they create economic injustice against vulnerable American workers.

Chain Migration is the primary mechanism that has caused legal immigration in this country to quadruple from the 1960s. As such, it is one of the chief culprits in America's current record-breaking population boom and all the attendant sprawl, congestion, environmental habitant losses, school overcrowding and failure to meet pollution goals

[Click here for more information on Chain Migration.]

VISA LOTTERY -- supports

Kerry supported the visa lottery at its inception. Back in 1989-90, Sen. Kerry voted for S.358, the bill that became the Immigration Act of 1990 and created the immigration lottery. With the immigration lottery, each year 50,000 more people are added to the country without any regard to their usefulness to the country or their own humanitarian need. The lottery may also add at least that many more illegal aliens each year as people who have entered the lottery decide to go ahead and move illegally to the U.S. in expectation of one day winning the lottery and making it all legal. Millions of foreign nationals each year begin to build up hopes that they one day will win the lottery.

In 1996 Kerry voted against the Feinstein Amendment to S. 1664 which would have eliminated the lottery and against the Simpson Amendment to the same bill which would have reduced the number of visas the lottery granted by almost half. 

[Click here for more information on the Visa Lottery Program]

CITIZENSHIP FOR ANCHOR BABIES OF ILLEGAL ALIENS

Information not yet available. E-mail us anything you have.

[Click here for more information on Anchor Babies]

AMNESTY: LONG WORK PERMITS FOR MOST ILLEGAL ALIENS -- supports

One of the priorities of the immigration policy that Senator Kerry posts on his website is "Earned Legalization," in other words, an amnesty for illegal aliens. 

"Those who have been in the United States for a significant amount of time, who have held a job, and who can pass a background check should be eligible to earn full citizenship. This makes sense for the economy; it is not only fair to people who have worked long and hard and paid their taxes -- it is the only way to strengthen our homeland security by bringing undocumented workers out of the shadows and into the light of greater accountability." [Click here to see all of Kerry's immigration priorities.]

In other words, Kerry would reward the 11 million (according to the 2000 Census) who reside in the U.S. illegally and encourage millions of others to come.

During the campaign, Kerry has promoted his support of amnesties in Time magazine, on National Public Radio, and to the AFL-CIO in his survey response. As a U.S. Senator, Kerry has voted for an amnesty for illegal aliens from Central America in the Senate H-1B bill (S. 2045) in 2000, which thankfully failed. In 2003, he CO-SPONSORED two amnesty bills which would reward illegal aliens with U.S. citizenship, S. 1545 and S. 1645.

Past amnesties have actually triggered increases in illegal immigration by fueling the expectation that, if  foreigners enter the U.S. illegally, they will eventually be rewarded with citizenship. The massive Immigration Reform and Control Act Amnesty of 1986, for example, which provided a blanket amnesty for 2.7 million illegal aliens, was supposed to wipe the slate clean and dramatically reduce future illegal immigration. Instead, the numbers skyrocketed. A new amnesty would do the same. 

His use of the term "undocumented workers" for illegal aliens indicates that Kerry has accepted the terminology of open-border advocates who attempt to mask the fact that illegal aliens have broken our nation's laws and have no legal right to remain in the U.S.

On January 18, 2004, Kerry reiterated his position on legalizing illegals to the Associated Press:

"I support an earned legalization proposal that will allow undocumented immigrants to legalize their status if they have been in the United States for a certain amount of time, have been working, and can pass a background check. This makes sense for the economy, provides fairness to people in our communities who have worked hard and paid taxes, and will also allow us to strengthen our homeland security by bringing undocumented workers out of the shadows."

IMPORT LOW-SKILLED WORKERS -- supports

[For more on how high immigration hurts American workers, click here.] 

HIGHLY SECURED BORDER -- ?

During the Third Presidential Debate

On October 13, 2004, Senator Kerry was asked about illegal border crossings by debate moderator Bob Schieffer. His reply, in part:

"Four thousand people a day are coming across the border. The fact is that we now have people from the Middle East, allegedly, coming across the border.

And we're not doing what we ought to do in terms of the technology. We have iris-identification technology. We have thumbprint, fingerprint technology today. We can know who the people are, that they're really the people they say they are when the cross the border. We could speed it up. There are huge delays.

The fact is our borders are not as secure as they ought to be, and I'll make them secure.

Earlier Statements on Border Security

Both the Immigration page on his website and his June 29th, 2004, press release on immigration issues are entitled "Extending The American Dream, Reforming America’s Immigration Laws" and include a section on "Stronger Border Security.":

"Stronger Border Security. As an integral part of his reform, John Kerry will reach an accord with neighboring countries to improve security along our borders and stop illegal smuggling. He will improve our nation’s security databases and watchlists and better control the borders to ensure that people who intend to harm us cannot cross our borders."

This paragraph is written so specifically as to exclude any mention of illegal workers. Kerry should be asked where he stands regarding preventing illegal workers from sneaking into our country and stealing American jobs. Would he support doubling the border patrol over the next two years? Allowing the military to serve on the borders in the interim?

[To see Kerry's immigration page go to www.johnkerry.com/issues/civil_rights/immigration.html. The entire release can be found at www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/releases/pr_2004_0629c.html.]

Throughout his career in the Senate, John Kerry has supported a solid level of border control. Kerry co-sponsored S 1749, the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2001 introduced by Sen. Edward Kennedy. This legislation was drafted after September 11 to close many of the immigration loopholes that made us vulnerable to the terrorist attacks of 9-11. S. 1749 would have created a comprehensive alien tracking and identification system by implementing an entry-exit system and an integrated database of biometric identifiers for every visa holder. While S. 1749 did not pass, many of the main provisions of this bill were included in H.R. 3525, as signed into law in May 2002. 

In 1996, Kerry voted for S.1664, a large omnibus bill with dozens of provisions aimed at reducing illegal immigration. It authorized major increases in the border patrol forces. It also had many provisions aimed at making life more difficult for illegal aliens who manage to get into the country, half of whom arrive with legal visas but then illegally overstay. Until passage of the bill, a person could be apprehended as an illegal alien, be deported and then turn around and come back to the U.S. on a legal student, tourist, worker or relative visa. After passage, an illegal alien was barred from any kind of legal entry for 10 years.

VIGOROUS WORKER VERIFICATION -- SUPPORTS

As a U.S. Senator, Kerry has consistently supported workforce verification measures. For example, in 1996 Kerry voted AGAINST the Abraham Amendment to S.1664. His vote was one in favor of setting up voluntary pilot programs in high-immigration states that would assist employers in verifying whether people they had just hired had the legal right to work in this country. Such verification is considered by many experts to be an essential tool for withdrawing the job magnet from illegal aliens. The verification system established by S.1664 did not involve an ID card. Rather it provided that when new workers wrote down their Social Security number on an application, employers could phone into a national verification system to help assure that the number was a real number and belonged to the person giving it. In earlier smaller pilot programs, businesses had hailed the verification system for making it easier for them to avoid hiring illegal aliens. But a coalition of conservative pro-business Members and of liberal civil libertarians tried to kill the verification program as too intrusive into the private rights of businesses and workers. Opposing that coalition, Sen. Kerry was part of a 54-46 majority that preserved the voluntary pilot programs.

Kerry does not, however, mention worker verification measures or enforcing immigration laws on his Immigration Policy web page, much less include them as one of his immigration priorities. Kerry should be asked if he will go on the record in favor of enforcing immigration laws with programs such as the Basic Pilot Extension Act of 2003, which passed Congress in November 2003. It will extend for five years the workplace employment eligibility authorization pilot programs created in 1996, which he supported. Where does immigration law enforcement fit in his list of immigration policy priorities?

[Click here for more information on Worker Verification]

FEDERAL AND LOCAL COOPERATION TO REMOVE ILLEGAL ALIENS -- SUPPORTS

Senator Kerry's support of worker verification systems [see above] and alien tracking and identification systems [see above] are testament to a belief in enforcing immigration laws not just at easily bypassed border points but also throughout our country. Interior enforcement of immigration laws is the only way to send a consistent signal to those around the world who are contemplating entering the U.S. illegally that, if they come, they will not be allowed to remain. 

Senator Kerry has not, however, signed on to co-sponsor the Homeland Security Enhancement Act of 2003, S. 1906, sponsored by Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama. S. 1906 and its sister House bill, the CLEAR Act, would open the door for federal and local authorities to work together to enforce immigration laws. More of the 400,000 illegal aliens who have received final deportation orders yet still hide in our communities would be deported. No longer would illegal alien criminals be allowed to go free after serving their terms in prison, as 80,000 have been allowed to do. 

Furthermore, Senator Kerry neither mentions interior enforcement measures on his Immigration Policy web page nor includes them as one of his immigration priorities. Kerry should be asked if he will co-sponsor S. 1906 and where immigration law enforcement fits in his list of immigration policy priorities. 

 [For an accurate summary of what the CLEAR Act and the Homeland Security Enhancement Act would do, click here.]

FEDERAL FORCED DOUBLING OF U.S. POPULATION -- supports faster doubling

Senator John Kerry currently favors policies that will change the United States from a country of 293 million people today to 571 million at the end of the century, according to the Census Bureau.

Kerry's support of amnesties for illegal aliens promotes an even bleaker future for America. Those amnesties not only immediately increase the permanent population of the United States but set the stage to multiply additions through high fertility and chain migration.

Since the immigration policies Kerry is advocating would undermine his stated goals of protecting American workers and the environment, one can only conclude that he does not fully appreciate the consequences of promoting an amnesty and unlimited immigration. 

Click here to view a detailed version of the massive population growth being caused by current immigration numbers which this candidate wants to make even larger.

GENERAL INFORMATION

John Kerry was born on December 11, 1943, at Fitzsimmons Military Hospital in Denver, Colorado. A graduate of Yale University, John Kerry entered the Navy after graduation, becoming a Swift Boat officer, serving on a gunboat in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. He received a Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, and three awards of the Purple Heart for his service in combat. Upon his return home, he co-founded the Vietnam Veterans of America and became a spokesperson for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, testifying before Congress at the age of 27.

As a top prosecutor in Middlesex County, Kerry took on organized crime and put the Number Two mob boss in New England behind bars. In 1984, after winning election as Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts in 1982, Kerry ran and was elected to serve in the United States Senate. He has continuously served as a senator since that time.

Kerry's refusal to reduce the unprecedented levels of legal immigrants entering our country undermines many of his public policy goals. The problems he recognizes concerning jobs, the American worker, sprawl 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.] 

Email Kerry about his immigration positions at info@johnkerry.com.

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EXPLANATIONS:
• Capitalized green positions (i.e. SUPPORTS - OPPOSES) indicate a stance that would encourage lower immigration and more U.S. stability.
• Lower case red positons (i.e. supports - opposes) indicate stances that would lead to higher U.S. immigration, sprawl and congestion.
• Categories that are not followed by positions indicate that no position is yet known for that issue.
• "SUPPORTS/OPPOSES" indicates a mixed stance that is more supportive than oppositional.
• "OPPOSES/SUPPORTS" is similar but indicates more opposition than support.