I encourage everyone to exercise their right to voice their opinion. However, I don’t believe the school and work boycott was the most effective choice. Every day, immigrants impact California in a positive way and contribute to our economy, but not without significant costs to social services. Coupled with the fact that the boycott adversely affected schools and businesses, I believe there will be a backlash and the push for true immigration reform will be undermined.

I support human rights, which is not the same as immigrant rights. All the advantages of being an American should be reserved for citizens, but all people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. I am proud to be an American, but I also consider myself a human being and a citizen of the planet. What’s more, America is a nation of immigrants and their descendants. My great grandparents came here nearly 100 years ago, and although I have a small amount of Native American blood, most of my other ancestors emigrated here from Europe during the past 400 years. I do not blame any individual for immigrating to this country to make a better life.  

However, I do blame the U.S. and the Mexican governments for allowing and encouraging conditions that drive illegal immigration. Our government's sovereign duty is to protect our nation, but they have fostered an environment that underpays workers and allows employers to break labor and fair wage laws. The Mexican government suffers from corruption and actively supports its citizens who try to immigrate to the USA. They are also very discriminatory against Central Americans who travel through Mexico. Instead of spending our money in the Middle East, we should assist real political, economic and agricultural reform in our neighbor Mexico. The maquiladoras were not enough and they are undercut by Chinese labor. I urge a repeal of NAFTA and a pursuit of FAIR TRADE NOT FREE TRADE.

I will march this afternoon in Porterville, not in support of illegal immigration, but in support of fair treatment for workers and all human beings. I strongly oppose HR 4437. It is a racist bill that puts us another step closer to becoming a police state. If this bill were to become law, it would turn good Samaritans into felons. A person wishing to live by the Christian ideal of "Love thy Neighbor as Thyself" would be locked up, and this includes teachers, medical personnel, and firefighters who dedicate themselves to assist those in need.

We need to address the root causes and impacts of immigration, both legal and illegal. I do not support open borders, but I do support an open flow of information and ideas. We need to realistically come together with some proposals. A wall will not solve our problems. Eleven million undocumented persons cannot be easily rounded up and deported. I support earned citizenship for those immigrants that already here, who haven’t committed a serious crime.  If they are trying contribute to our society, we should allow them to apply for residency and eventual citizenship. A reasonable fine should be established and applied to mandatory citizenship and English classes. All wishing to stay here should take an oath of allegiance and swear to honor and defend this country. After a period of some years, they then should earn the right to be American citizens.

Immigrants who do not want to contribute to our country, should go back home and improve their country. We need to restrict the number of people coming here until we have effective ways of dealing with the impacts of population growth and development on our economy, environment and society. This being said, those of you who are already here, please join us in making America a great nation once again, where we care about human rights, liberty and justice for all.