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10/2/04 -- Contra Costa Times [Posted 10/5/04]
According to numerous polls, economy, homeland security, Iraq and health care costs are the top four major concerns of voters of diverse backgrounds.
Presidential candidates and candidates for U.S. Congress should be asked the following questions:
· The United States has spent tens of billions of dollars in the Iraqi war, supposedly to curb international terrorism. But thousands of foreign nationals cross our borders illegally every day. How can this nation effectively protect homeland security with such porous borders?
· According to the 2003 survey conducted by the Census Bureau, immigrants arriving since 1998 and their U.S.-born descendants accounted for 95 percent of the growth of the uninsured population in the United States. Can this country have a long-term, fiscally responsible universal health-care system without first reducing legal and illegal immigration substantially?
· According to Time magazine, 3 million illegal immigrants, therefore large numbers of workers, will enter the United States in 2004 alone. In addition, hundreds of thousands of "temporary workers" are admitted to this country annually. If this country continues to allow millions of foreign-born job-seekers to enter our labor markets every year, how can Americans and legal immigrants already here find work?
Addressing outsourcing alone is diverting attention!
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