Editors note: I posted this yesterday at Potomac Tea Party Report but since we frequently write about “Temporary” Refugees here, I thought this might be of interest to RRW readers as well.
That quote would be from Del. Ana Sol GUTIERREZ of Montgomery County, Maryland when she was being interviewed by The Hill a week ago on why she wants her El Salvadoran countrymen, who are now here on Temporary Protected Status, included in “comprehensive immigration reform.” In fact, she wants them first in line.
She is referring to the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who came here illegally decades ago, but were given “temporary” refugee status (because back home there was a long-ago civil war or more likely a big storm or earthquake) and can do everything any American can do except vote. However, they do get drivers licenses and I’ll bet you a buck they vote!
So what’s this about money to foreign governments? And, beyond humanitarian concern?
The Hill tells us it is all about “remittances” here (emphasis mine):
Foreign governments are working hard to shape the debate on immigration reform as momentum for a comprehensive bill builds in Congress.
[….]
A number of countries with significant immigration ties to the United States — notably Mexico, Ireland and several Central American nations — have been making their concerns known while doing their best to avoid meddling in domestic affairs.
For many countries, the issue goes beyond humanitarian concern: Remittances from foreign nationals living in the U.S. provide a significant boost to the economies of their home countries.
Mexicans are here illegally but many Central Americans have TPS:
An estimated 7 million Mexicans in the country illegally stand to benefit from reform.
While Mexico has adopted a wait-and-see attitude, other countries have specific changes they hope to see in the law. However, they’re happy to do so discreetly — letting American groups take the lead.
That’s the case with El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, three countries whose citizens have long been eligible for a temporary immigration status first offered in the wake of the civil wars of the 1980s.
The countries hope that immigration reform will include a path to permanent legal status, and eventually citizenship, for the estimated 300,000 or so Central Americans who are in the United States under the Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, which is up for renewal periodically. [LOL! for Salvadorans it was renewed just in time for the November 2012 election!—ed]
Gutierrez: We want the Salvadorans first in line
The Salvadoran embassy has requested updated data from U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services, said Maryland state Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez (D), a Salvadoran-American immigration activist.
The embassy reached out to other embassies to do the same in order to get a better sense of how many Central Americans currently benefit from the program. El Salvador is believed to have about 210,000 of its citizens currently in the U.S. under the program.
“We just need to be able to say, ‘These are the people we want to be first in line because they’ve already been here,’ ” Gutierrez said. “First of all, they have to pass background checks every 18 months, they have to pay taxes, they’ve been here with a legal status.
So far! (So far!) “Temporary” refugees are not included in Obama’s amnesty plan. Let the squabbling begin!
TPS reform is not included in the principles of the White House immigration reform proposal, Gutierrez said.
So readers, the next time someone puts you on an emotional guilt-trip about the poor and downtrodden seeking a “better future,” remember! as I said yesterday, this is all being driven by money for big businesses in need of cheap labor and by foreign governments propping up their economies as Gutierrez makes clear!
The Hill story continues:
Gutierrez said money is a principal driver of the foreign governments’ interest in immigration reform.
[….]
Total remittances to El Salvador in 2010 were $3.6 billion in 2010.
For Mexico, the figure was $22.7 billion, or 2.1 percent of GDP.
That says it all, fewer jobs for Americans because we need to prop-up the third world.
Read the entire Hill story, there is much more.
For more on the TPS racket, see all of our previous posts at Potomac Tea Party Report . And here are the posts at RRW on the topic.