Yesterday, Janet Napolitano was confirmed as the new Secretary of Homeland Security by the Senate. As Secretary Napolitano takes office it is prudent to examine her thoughts about immigration and the current national debate surrounding immigration. Luckily, we have access to a speech that then Governor Napolitano gave at Santa Clara University entitled “Immigration: Where Do We Go From Here.” (The speech is available on iTunes).
The speech, which was given in April, gives good insight into Secretary Napolitano’s personal thoughts before she was nominated. Today I am going to focus on the first half of her speech where she examined the present immigration system and the debate surrounding it.
Secretary Napolitano began her speech by mocking the two extremes of the immigration debate – people who she called the “Wall People” and the “Open Borders” people. Her view of the “Wall People” was that the higher the wall, the higher the ladder circumventing the wall. She highlighted the fault of the “Open Borders” people by stating that not enforcing an immigration policy diminishes the value of U.S. citizenship.
Then Governor Napolitano unambigiously stated that the federal government had let the states down and had created a de facto “silent amensity.” Secretary Napolitano made several positive comments about immigration. Secretary Napolitano made a point of explaining to the crowd that the term “illegal aliens” is a misnomer because entering the United States without authorization is a civil infraction, not a criminal infraction. She also made a point of stating that not enough immigrants are allowed to enter into the United States legally. She specifically mentioned the need for immigrants in the agriculture, tourism and construction industries. Additionally, Secretary Napolitano stated that there are not enough H-1B visas available and that America must again get the brains of the world to come and stay in this country.
Tomorrow I will focus on the second part of her speech where she focused on reforms that she wanted to see.