Immigration: A Hot Issue Among Candidates

Immigration and dealing with illegal immigrants has become a hot issue this 2008 election year. The candidates for President all have various views on the issue, and the opinions do not directly follow party lines. This issue alone is proving to be as diverse as the candidates themselves.

Several candidates from both sides of the isle are supportive of a path for immigrants to become legal citizens of our country. Senators Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain, former Senator John Edwards, and former Mayor Rudi Giuliani all support the path for legalization of illegal immigrants, and they all agree that this path should include fines, but also education in the English language.

Some candidates do not believe that there should be a path for legalization of illegal immigrants. They do not believe that immigrants who come to the United States illegally should have any backing. These candidates include Representative Ron Paul, former Governor Mitt Romney and former Senator Fred Thompson.

Some candidates have clear cut plans for the dealing with immigrants and immigration. Duncan Hunter, a Republican candidate who is a representative from California says that we need to secure our borders before we move forward with any changes in policy. Mike Huckabee, former Governor, plans to give illegal immigrants 120 days to register and leave the country, and then the individuals could reapply to return to the United States. He has also set a date of 2010 for which the border fence should be complete.

The fence between the border of the US and Mexico has also split some of the candidates. Romney, Giuliani and Thompson all agree that the fence needs to be completed. Clinton, Obama, Paul, McCain, and Hunter all voted for the fence and have not changed their opinion on this as of now. Representative Dennis Kucinich voted against the border fence, Edwards supports the fence, but a limited version in key areas, and Mike Gravel, former Senator from Alaska, opposes the fence completely.

Immigration and the border fence are proving to be hot issues in this election year and the candidates vary in their opinions from having no path for illegal immigrants to become citizens and building a strong wall across the entire Mexico/US border to not having a fence at all and not only having a plan for legalizing immigrants, but also teaching them English.

It is important as voters that we find the candidate that supports our view points, which ever they may be and that we vote for the candidate who best represents the same ideals that we hold true. With so many varied opinions on just this one issue of immigration, it should not be hard for anyone to find a candidate who complements their own views and opinions.