The Colorado Compact may help bridge the gap between the Republican Party and Hispanic voters. Sen. Michael Bennet (Dem), former Sen. Hank Brown (Rep), along with multiple community and business leaders, announced at the University of Denver that they had finalized the Compact. The group worked together for some 18 months to find a common immigration policy that would work; the Compact has the signatures of more than 100 backers, and outlines six points they present as a bipartisan, collaborate approach.
In part, the Compact states that law enforcement needs to be focused on more serious crime issues, that immigration policies should be drafted to keep immigrant families together, that businesses need an easy, reliable, accurate, affordable system with which to ensure their employees are of good standing, and that any policies need to include a way for legally-abiding immigrants to become citizens, if so desired. Solid, inclusive, sensible immigration policy should be part of a larger system of economic growth, health care and social change.
The bipartisan group stated that though they did not agree on all the details of policy reform during their more than 200 meetings around the state over a period of eighteen months, they did agree that the current atmosphere and policies in place were not working, and they pushed for more civil discourse. It is hoped the Colorado Compact will be a stepping stone to true, lasting reform as a more “common sense” approach to the emotionally-charged issue. Recent polling indicated that an overwhelming number of Hispanic voters opposed the GOP’s immigration stance.
The Colorado Compact urges Coloradans to come together to discuss how to manage the much-needed immigration reform on a national level. Signers include politicians, small business owners, ranchers, farmers, faith leaders, law enforcement agencies, and immigration advocates – all of whom have stated a wish to help change immigration policies in the U.S. The Colorado Compact was crafted as a way, drafters hope, to help push federal reform by stating guiding principles as well as by setting an example in Washington for civil discourse.
The six-point compact is in line with similar “guiding-principle documents” that were drafted in Utah, Indiana and Idaho, but Colorado’s includes some specific changes in the suggestions, including a flexible visa system.
Though the Colorado Compact is not a legally binding document, drafters hope that it will send a message.
A. Banerjee is a Houston immigration lawyer in Texas. Before selecting an immigration lawyer in Houston Texas, contact the Law Offices of Annie Banerjee by visiting their information filled web site at http://www.visatous.com.
