Issue Position: Immigration Reformer

Issue Position

Ray supports comprehensive immigration because the current system is simply unfair and dangerous. We must deal with illegal immigration with a tough, four-point plan:

* Secure our borders, all of them. This does not mean simplistic fences, but a combination of practical solutions, including adequate support and tools for border agents, fences in urban areas, improved visa policies, and port security.
* Crack down on employers who hire illegal workers and provide improved tools to help reduce counterfeit documents.
* Require that all illegal immigrants register with the government. We must bring this immigrant community out of the shadows and into the lawful society.
* Require that all illegal immigrants pay fines and taxes, work, learn English, and go to the back of the line to earn their citizenship.

Much of the migration pattern we see today is due to agricultural subsidies established in the Nixon administration and Ag Secretary Earl Butts to the avoid the boom/bust cycles in the Ag sector. These subsidies allowed farmers to be profitable even if grain prices dropped through the floor, essentially wrapping tax dollars around every bushel of grain. When these products were sold under NAFTA in Mexico and other countries, they were so cheap that local farmers were driven out of business, and they unfortunately sought work in the U.S. NAFTA must be repealed or drastically rewritten to tax subsidized products to recover those subsidies and bring prices in line with market prices in Mexico and other countries. Dumping grain into Mexico hurts everyone.

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