Sunday, March 04, 2007

Napolitano unveils immigration plan

A program to deal with immigration and illegal immigration in Arizona brings up some interesting points.

"Napolitano's proposal includes:

• Ground-based radar, aerial drones and improved ports of entry to help secure the nation's nearly 2,000-mile border with Mexico.

• Penalties for employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers and an improved verification system to help them tell the difference.

• A temporary-worker program and path to citizenship for those living and working in the country illegally. Citizenship would be dependent on paying a fine, learning English, working, paying taxes and staying out of trouble. "

The interesting reaction in the article is to the learning English piece:

"A path to citizenship would be great, he said, but how can a migrant earning bare wages afford to pay a fine? And where will they learn English in states like Arizona, where voters have banned undocumented immigrants from government-subsidized classes?"

Every library in Arizona will soon have Rosetta Stone, an online language acquisition program that can teach Spanish speakers English as well as teach English speakers Spanish. With Prop 300, I see libraries play an increasingly higher role in literacy because of this issue.

Read the full Arizona Republic Article here.

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