Two Cabinet secretaries lobby for immigration reform

Dec. 16, 2009 | Kitty Felde | KPCC

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Kitty Felde

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, John Podesta from the Center for American Progress, and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke

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House Democrats rolled out their proposal yesterday for immigration reform. Today, the White House sent two Cabinet secretaries out to make the case that it’s time to fix what they call a “broken system.”

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis knows something about immigration. Her mother is from Nicaragua, her father’s from Mexico.

She joined Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, whose mother is from Hong Kong, and father is from China.

Both made the case that the time was right for comprehensive immigration reform.

Solis said bringing undocumented workers into the light would be good for all workers — and for employers who play by the rules. She added that giving legal status to undocumented workers would be good for the federal government, too.

Adding up the numbers, Solis said, "twelve million people, if they become naturalized or legalized, and they begin to pay their taxes, just think of the revenue that would generate."

Solis and Locke are part of a White House task force on immigration. That group is headed by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

Solis said the White House will take its cues from the Senate, which is expected to tackle immigration reform after the first of the year.


Comments

Truth

8 months, 3 weeks ago

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Solis is RIGHT, The Undocumented Immigrants pay the exact same amount of taxes like you and me when they buy Things, rent a house, fill up gas, drink a beer or wine, buy appliances, play the states lottery and mega millions . Below are the links to just a few sites that will show you exactly how much tax you or the Undocumented Immigrant pays , so you see they are NOT FREELOADERS, THEY PAY TAXES AND TOLLS Exactly the same as you, Now if you take out 10% from your states /city Budget what will your city/state look like financially ?

Stop your folly thinking , you are wise USE YOUR WISDOM to see the reality. They pay more taxes than you think, Including FEDERAL INCOME TAX using a ITN Number that is given to them by the IRS, Social Security Taxes and State taxes that are withheld form their paychecks automatically.

Taxes, paid by You & the Undocumented are the same in each state check your state : http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/sales.html

GAS Taxes paid by you & the Undocumented are the same. Go to and check out your states tax; http://www.gaspricewatch.com/usgastaxes.asp

Cigarette Taxes paid by you & the Undocumented are the same, check this out in : http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/cigarett.html

Clothing Sales Taxes, are the same paid by you & the Undocumented Immigrant; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_taxes_in_the_United_States

City Taxes, are the same paid by you or the Undocumented, since he pays rent and the LANDLORD pays the city : http://www.town-usa.com/statetax/statetaxlist.html

Beer Taxes, are the same paid by you or the Undocumented: http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/beer.html

TAX DATA : http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/245.html

Michelle

8 months, 3 weeks ago

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Why is an angry white racist majority preventing a much-needed immigration reform from becoming a reality? We are talking about millions of hard-working human beings, who would be proud and contributing American citizens. Since when do we listen to racists such as Senators Sessions, DeMint, and Vitter (Vitter is the real Christian guy who bought all the prostitutes, an upstanding human being, indeed)...A comprehensive immigration reform is a must for 2010! No more wait, no more excuses!!!

Kathleen

8 months, 3 weeks ago

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Solis and Locke must be reminded they have sworn to uphold our laws and represent the American people....not illegal aliens. Comments such as these two made should be grounds for removal from office.

This invasion of illegal aliens must be stopped and every elected/appointed official who does not actively enforce our laws and demand their deportation mus be removed from office and charged with aiding and abetting and dereliction of duty.

Those who attempt to insult our intelligence by stating these illegal aliens pay taxes, are hard-working human beings, etc. should know that we will never allow these illegal aliens to turn our country into a clone of the corrupt, lawless countries they left behind and to which they shall be made to return.

We do not sell citizenship in return for people who have stolen IDs or are illegally working here paying taxes, which every study indicates are far less than the cost of services provided to illegal aliens. This is not a question of paying taxes, hard-working, good or bad human beings; rather, this is a question of legal Vs illegal. We do not care where you are from. We do, however, greatly care about how you got here. LaRaza, LULAC, and other anti-American organizations should be charged with sedition and be made to disband immediately rather than allowing them to continue to shakedown businesses and government.

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