As Barrack Obama formally takes office at exactly 12:01 AM, 20 January 2009, I couldn't help but hold my breath in anticipation. Will He be able to live up to the great expectations of change? How will it really affect us as Filipinos? Particularly us, as nurses? With families in the U.S?
Indirectly, he has indeed promised amnesty. Yes it's real. It may not affect me as a Filipino who's still here in the Philippines-- but I know how much it will affect my kababayans, my fellow Filipinos, currently living in the US with tourist visas who have long been expired. They have broken immigration laws, I know, but they are no terrorists. They are honest, hard-working Filipinos who only wanted to earn a good living to be able to support their families.
Let us not, as humans, judge these 12 million people who have broken immigration laws nor continue to condemn them to lives of secrecy. Let us, as a nation, hope for the best. It just might be the change, we need.
Check out the following transcripts below:
What Obama had to say:
“Yes, they broke the law. And we should not excuse that. We should require them to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for citizenship - behind those who came here legally. But we cannot - and should not - deport 12 million people. ”
“That's why we need to offer those who are willing to make amends a pathway to citizenship. That way, we can reconcile our values as both a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws.”
CNN Transcripts
Lou Dobbs Show
05/2008
PILGRIM: Senator Obama tonight is intensifying his efforts to court Latino voters. Now Obama restated his support for so-called comprehensive immigration reform and Obama supporters are even carrying his campaign to the other side of the border.
CASEY WIAN, CNN
CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senator Barack Obama guaranteed a new comprehensive immigration reform plan within his first year in office during a lengthy interview this week with Spanish language TV network, Univision.
OBAMA: Nobody in the Senate, other than maybe Ted Kennedy, has been more consistent in saying we need to have a pathway to citizenship for those who are undocumented, already here. That we've got to deal with employers who are actively recruiting undocumented workers to make sure that they are abiding by U.S. law. And that we've got to have stronger border surveillance and security. That is probably going to be more of a combination of virtual borders, virtual patrols. WIAN: The push to win more Latino support included a defense of Obama's vote authorizing the construction of more border fence. But with a softened position, he promised to review the fence plan and eliminate areas where it would not work. Obama also dismissed increased workplace raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as good P.R., but not a long-term solution."
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