Tom Ridge on Undocumented Status
Posted Dec 26, 2003

In comments that have generated significant controversy, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge commented that the U.S. has to provide legal status to those millions of individuals who are illegally present in the U.S. These comments of Secretary Ridge were made in a December 9, 2003 speech in Florida. Secretary Ridge specified that he was not in favor of making illegally present foreign nationals U.S. citizens. Rather, he favors some manner of legalizing their presence and then, from that point, setting a clear immigration policy and enforcing that policy.

Secretary Ridge's comments arose in the course of questions about the subject from those attending his speech. He revealed that there is growing support for addressing the status of illegal immigrants who contribute to the U.S. and pay taxes here. This does not mean that persons illegally in the U.S. will be given amnesty or automatic status; the Bush administration confirmed its opposition to "broad amnesty" following Ridge's speech. Secretary Ridge’s comment does indicate that there is support for less sweeping, but still vital, immigration reform. It is not clear if Secretary Ridge's comments were off-the-cuff or official White House policy in support of individuals who wish to enter our society’s mainstream in legal status, rather than remaining underground.

There are many who believe that those who are eligible for permanent residence in all respects, with the exception of status violations, need a mechanism to fix past mistakes. There are others who believe that no one should be able to benefit from violating any laws, including immigration, even if the laws are not providing the desired result for our economy. Still others believe that there needs to be a workable category for employers to request immigration benefits for semi-skilled and other vital or essential workers needed in many positions for which there are no available U.S. workers. There is also the position from a purely financial angle, that our enforcement resources should not be drained in efforts to remove people who have proven to be valuable and contributing members of our society. All such diverse viewpoints help make our democracy stronger.