News Update - December 31, 2007
By Alan Lee, Esq.†‡
Year End Message
Dear friends,
As the end of the year comes into view, I guess that we along with
many others in the nation will look upon the year as fairly uneven
with ups and downs but no tremendous disasters like Katrina, Oklahoma
City, or the World Trade towers. For this, we can feel blessed.
The subprime mortgage problem is lurking and may yet become full-blown
in the next year, but has yet to panic Americans in 2007 judging
from current spending patterns. Climate change may yet yield "The
Day after Tomorrow", but the President is ducking in 2007.
Closer to home and our occupation, the immigration issue was up
and then it was down. The promise of comprehensive immigration reform
in the first half of the year turned sour and we have seen a string
of bad news for immigrants in the past six months. No one expects
significant reform to happen until the next President is elected.
The current crop of Republican candidates is going all-out to out
anti-immigrant each other. The Democrats are tiptoeing around the
issue.
As I witness the death of the pro immigrant movement by the Republican
Party, I am left wondering - where is the Grand Old Party that used
to embrace hard working immigrants, whether legal or illegal? Where
is the party of Ronald Reagan who signed the Legalization Act of
1986? Where is the party of George Bush, Sr., who allowed Chinese
nationals (even overstays) who came to the U.S. by April 1990, to
stay in the U.S. permanently. That party is now gone, subsumed by
the weight of anti-immigration forces, and sustained by demagogues
like Lou Dobbs on TV and Rush Limbaugh on radio. What will be the
end result in 2008, an election year? Everyone must wait and see
whether those who have been despised and have the right to vote
will rise up in force on election day. That day will tell much about
the direction of this country. So we welcome 2008 as a year of decision!
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