Word: legalism
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...presidential candidates are not that far apart. Senators John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama all favor a deal that would combine increased enforcement of laws against illegal immigration, a guest-worker program to help businesses and a process for allowing illegal immigrants who meet certain conditions to become legal residents. So you might think immigration won't be an issue in this fall's races...
...million Estimated number of nonnaturalized immigrants, both legal and illegal, currently living...
McCain says comprehensive immigration reform failed because the public didn't trust Washington to enforce the laws. People assumed that existing illegal immigrants would be legalized while new ones continued to stream in. So now McCain pledges that nobody will get legal status until border-state governors certify that illegal crossings are under control. It is a weak promise. Because nearly half of illegal immigrants came here legally and then overstayed their visas, "border control" does little to actually slow the growth of the illegal population...
...that could command broad support, including from a significant number of conservatives and Hispanics. The GOP could stand for increased enforcement but also hold open the possibility of regularizing illegal immigrants who have been here a long time. Or Republicans could combine enforcement with steps to improve conditions for legal immigrants--or draw distinctions among illegal immigrants, prioritizing the deportation of those who are felons...
...Justice Department withdrew the memo, written by deputy legal counsel John Yoo, nine months after it was written, but the issue of U.S. treatment of prisoners remains in the headlines. The governments in Baghdad and Washington together still hold tens of thousands of prisoners in Iraq amid continuing controversy over their legal rights. U.S. military interrogators are currently limited to the less aggressive methods of questioning listed in the Army's field manual, though President George W. Bush recently vetoed a bill that would have put similar limits on the CIA. For its part, the agency is investigating the destruction...