Immigration Reform

The issue of illegal immigration has been cause for some overheated rhetoric on both sides of the issue.  My time at the Department of Homeland Security reinforced the fact that border issues are less about immigration and more about national security.  

It is time we set aside partisanship and address this critical issue.  States like Washington rely on immigrant labor not only at our farms and in our fields, but also in our high tech industries.  We must address this issue in a way that upholds America’s security and our laws, while ensuring that key industries have access to the labor they need in order to be successful.

Common Sense Solutions:

•    Fortify and secure both the northern and southern borders.

•    Support the SAVE Act.

•    Require every prisoner who is an illegal immigrant and every illegal immigrant who has committed a crime
     against person or property to be immediately deported to their country of origin.

•    Improve options for legal immigrants including reform of the temporary work visa program to include biometric
     registry, a workable exit system, and streamline the process.

•    Ensure that federal, state, and local law enforcement have the resources necessary to enforce existing
     immigration law.