Mike Pence the Salesman

Representative Mike Pence is still out looking for buyers for his solution to the immigration quandary. He now has Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison convinced. The two of them staged an 'infomercial'-type press conference this week that Reuters News Service covered.

Why call him a salesman? Well, a cornerstone of Pence's plan is privatizing most of the immigration services at " Ellis Island-type centers in many countries to process applications for a new kind of work visa, known as the Good Neighbor SAFE
(Secure Authorized Foreign Employee) visas". Somehow applicants would need to prove that a U.S. job awaits them.

According to Reuters, the visa would be offered only to immigrants from countries that are part of trade pacts covering Canada, Mexico and most of Central America. Amazingly this is the first hint that anyone in Congress is thinking about the effects of globalization.

Essentially Pence's plan is an enforcement-first strategy that would require the Department of Homeland Security to certify that the borders are secure before reform would take place.

ACTION STEP: Contact Mike Pence and tell him that you don't agree with his plan. Tell him that you don't believe enforcement-first is feasible, just or American. Tell him his privatization plan will not work either.