Homeland security chief endorses legalizing undocumented immigrants

South Florida Sun-Sentinel | Posted December 10 2003 | Tanya Weinberg

[patriotUSA]

Homeland security chief endorses legalizing undocumented immigrants

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told a Miami audience Tuesday that the country should legalize millions of undocumented immigrants living in the country.

"The bottom line is, as a country we have to come to grips with the presence of 8 to 12 million illegals, afford them some kind of legal status some way, but also as a country decide what our immigration policy is and then enforce it," Ridge said at a town hall meeting at Miami-Dade Community College.

The forum was the second in a national series organized by the nonprofit Council for Excellence in Government, which aims to develop homeland security recommendations for various levels of government and the public. Business and community leaders, students and others had the chance to ask Ridge and state and local officials about topics that included cybersecurity, airport security, cargo inspection and immigration.

A man who identified himself as Miguel Arroyo, of Aventura, asked Ridge whether he supported immigration legalization and whether he thought it would benefit national security.

Ridge said he thinks the body politic is about ready to address the issue of the illegal immigrants, who he said contribute to communities and Social Security and pay taxes. He referred to a growing number of bills that would grant residency to some of those living here illegally. He said one of these, which would require all illegal immigrants to leave the country before applying for residency, is "not workable."

"I'm not saying make them citizens, because they violated the law to get here," he said. "So you don't reward that type of conduct by turning over a citizenship certificate. You determine how you can legalize their presence, then, as a country, you make a decision that from this day forward, from this day forward, this is the process of entry, and if you violate that process of entry we have the resources to cope with it."

At the town hall meeting and at a morning meeting with Gov. Jeb Bush, Ridge praised Florida's level of security preparedness. This year Florida is spending $403 million on homeland security. Most comes from the $29.4 billion in federal money for domestic security programs.

At the morning meeting, Bush told a national security advisory council that the state has improved coordination between law enforcement and emergency personnel and heightened security at seaports.

"In the event of a disaster, a terrorist attack of any kind, ... today we are better trained, better equipped, better coordinated," Bush said.

The town hall audience of about 300 was asked "Do you feel safer than you did a year ago?" Fifty-two percent said yes, 28 percent said no, and 20 percent said unchanged.

Staff Writer Christy McKerney contributed to this report.

Tanya Weinberg can be reached at tweinberg@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5029. Email story Print story

Copyright © 2003, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

[jsraggmann]

Right now there isn't a dimes worth of difference between the two parties. I guess I'm a sucker or a fool, but when the Pubbies were elected to the Presidency and the majority of the House and Senate, I expected a return(even a small one)to upholding our Constitution and doing what's right for Americans. Did that happen? Of course not! Defecit spending is totally out-of-control, they refuse to protect our borders and liberty is being eroded daily through the Patriot Act and other Un-Constitutional crap that indeed comes from "1984". Time to buy another case of ammo!

[eeriegeno]

If Mr Ridge is unaware of current immigration laws when he says, "we need to decide as a country what our immigration policy is"he has reached his level of incompetency and needs to be removed from his position. How many people are employed at the INS anyway??????

[John Beresford Tipton]

"The bottom line is, as a country we have to come to grips with the presence of 8 to 12 million illegals"

Rather:

"The bottom line is, as a country we have to come to grips with the presence of idiots on both ends of Penn. Ave."

[Happy2BMe]

"Right now there isn't a dimes worth of difference between the two parties. I guess I'm a sucker or a fool, but when the Pubbies were elected to the Presidency and the majority of the House and Senate, I expected a return(even a small one)to upholding our Constitution and doing what's right for Americans. Did that happen? Of course not!"

The last Republican to serve in the White House was this man . .

(Unfortunately, the U.S.A. is unable or unwilling to produce another leader such as Ronald Reagan.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This idea that government was beholden to the people, that it had no other source of power is still the newest, most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves." -- Ronald Reagan's Speech at the 1964 National Convention: A Time for Choosing

[FITZ]

You determine how you can legalize their presence

And that alone will encourage millions of more to come in from every third world country there is ---- why legalize them? You can choose not to hunt every last one down to deport but still leave them illegal ---- which was the way they chose to come in. Leave them illegal --- it keeps them a little more careful about committing other crimes --- sometimes --- and makes them easier to deport if they start getting into trouble.

[FITZ]

Total immigration levels --- legal combined with illegal --- should be tied to unemployment and combined welfare programs rates. If rates of welfare use are high, we certainly don't need more unskilled people moving in.

[janetgreen]

Brand new free faxes are up at www.numbersusa.com, and they're addressed to President Bush, Tom Ridge, Asa Hutchinson, and your representatives.

They need to hear our outrage.

[BillyBoy]

>> Secretary Ridge is a fat faced, pro-death RINO useless lunchbag bureaucrat who seems to have forgotten that it's his friggin' job to ENFORCE THE LAW. <<

Ah, but at least RINOs "deliver" their states to conservative Republicans. Oh, except Pennsyvania just happened to go to Gore... ;->

[texastoo]

Ridge needs to go with a few other RINOs. This is totally unacceptable.

[JustPiper]

I cannot believe how much worse this is getting by the day!
I think The Clinton's saw the issue for their benefit and jumped on it because W is sleeping on it!

[jasmine0119]

i think president bush need to understand if the illegals have committed to cross the border then they just accepted the consequences of being deported ,yes we do have alot of illegal immigrant what he needs to do is start from scratch meaning any person who is illegal need to be reported by their employees ,employers need to start screening for good social security and to report all workers to the IRS to ensure they are all paying taxes this way American jobs could be field up again and to be fair to the American people that they need to pay their taxes as well as everyone else and send some type of letter to this immigrant to give them a chance to stay and work legally since they have been working for a long period of time.