Sanctuary's Questionnaire for Presidential Hopefuls- Will their silence be the most telling sign of all?

Pandering or Courting?

The Obama campaign and the McCain campaign have gone into high gear it would seem, as it relates to the Latino community's vote. But is their commitment to the community and its issues real? That has been my question of the last few months.

Back in June I worked with my colleagues over at the Sanctuary to put together a questionnaire for the presidential hopefuls. In it we asked questions of import to the Latino community. Our hope was that the candidates would tip their hand on the policies their term in office would bring.

From the questionnaire: "The Sanctuary is a multi-issue organization working in the service of human rights, human reasoning and progressive discussion. Therefore it is critical for us to understand your position on the following issues. Please give specific answers to the questions and answer them as thoroughly as possible."

To date the candidates' silence has been deafening.

... And yet the candidates' calendars are booked solid with appearances at national Latino events like that of NALEO, LULAC, NCLR, UNITY 08.

Could it be that good politics has shown campaign strategists time and again that it is enough for the candidates to show up at these events, say a few words in Spanish and disappear again? We, the editors of the Sanctuary think not. We believe that it is critical that we hold the presidential candidates to account. It is time for them to start talking policy, in addition to learning a few words of Spanish.

Having worked on a presidential campaign in '04 I know for a fact that questionnaires get answered and policies get drafted, if your constituency is taken seriously and seen as a priority.

So I am left to wonder:

Are we (Latinos) then not a priority?

Or perhaps the candidates fear giving their answer as that would pre-emptively reveal their hand?

Is it a don't ask/don't tell tactic?

Well if it is they should have told us sooner because we are asking. I am confident that most of you on this site will find the questions we've submitted interesting.

The Sanctuary's Presidential Candidate Questionnaire

1. Could you please articulate what you think are the most pressing issues for the U.S. immigrant community, at home AND abroad, and how you would hope to address those issues as President?

2. Do you support comprehensive immigration reform?

3. What policy conditions would comprehensive immigration reform have to meet in order for you to support it? Please be specific.

4. Do you support the establishment of an expanded guest worker program?

5. Do you support the expansion and construction of a virtual border along the U.S./Mexico border?

6. Do you support the switch from family based immigration standards to the merit based system put forth in the last round of Senate CIR?

7. Do you support the "touchback" requirements of previous comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) legislation that would require undocumented immigrants to return to their countries of origin in order to normalize their status?

8. Would you support the addition of funding for stricter enforcement of general labor standards such as wage and hour or safety regulations as part of CIR legislation?

9. Would you support an increase in the cap of low-skilled employment-based green cards issued each year from it's current level of 5000?

10. Would you favor raising the 65,000 cap on high-skilled H-1B temporary work visas, in light of the fact that in the last two years, H-1B visas were quickly filled in a matter of days?

11a. If so, would you also favor limiting the number of H-1B professionals a company can hire?

11b. If so, would you also favor limiting the number of H-1B professionals employment brokers are allowed to recruit?

11c. If so, would you favor including meaningful prevailing wage requirements keyed to the Service Contract Act and Davis-Bacon Act?

12. Do you have a position on providing materials concerning health care and public benefits programs in languages other than English?

13. Do you support lifetime eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for disabled and/or elderly refugees and asylees who are eligible for SSI except for a lack of U.S. citizenship?

14. What are your feelings on immigrant detention?

15. Do you support family detention centers?

16. Do you support private companies profiting of of immigrant detention?

17. Do you support the Detainee Basic Medical Care Act, the bill that would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop procedures to ensure adequate medical care for all detainees held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)?

18. Do you support the United American Families Act, the bill that would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow permanent partners of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, including same-sex partners, to obtain permanent residency?

19. Do you support the community service requirement of previous DREAM Act legislation that would grant provisional (conditional) legal residency to immigrant graduates who perform 910 hours of volunteer community service?

20. Would you support an immediate moratorium on community and work site raids by ICE?

21. Do you approve of ICE's use of excessive force to conduct immigration raids as seen recently in Postiville, Iowa?

22. Do you support the Families First Immigration Enforcement Act, the bill that would provide for safe and humane policies and procedures pertaining to the arrest, detention, and processing of aliens in immigration enforcement operations?

23. Would you support the incorporation of requirements that would tie both future economic aid and trade agreements to substantive benchmarks in sender nations that would alleviate some of the economic and humanitarian conditions that foster continued migration?

24. Would you renegotiate the NAFTA last phase that just went into effect that lifts restrictions on more US agricultural products, particularly poultry, imported into Mexico?

25. Do you support cancelling or renegotiating NAFTA?"

26. Do you support providing subsidies for corn-based ethanol?

27. Do you support the farm bill, more specifically the agricultural subsidies it contains?

28. Do you support a restructuring of trade-distorting US farm subsidies?

29. Do you support a significant shift in subsidies to help farmers adopt conservation and renewable energy practices on farms?

30. Do you support Plan Colombia (the Plan that was meant to combat the principal threat to the nation's political and economic elite: the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)) even though after closer examination of Plan Colombia, it has been revealed that the Plan states that public companies and banks are to be privatized leading to massive layoffs and further increasing unemployment at a time when cutbacks in government spending has removed any vestiges of providing a social safety net for those affected?

31. Do you support Plan Mexico, which has been considered to be a duplicate of Plan Colombia, which has entrenched violence and corruption in Colombia while failing to reduce drug flow?

32. Do you support canceling or renegotiating Plan Mexico?

33. What would you do to address the racist and nativist rhetoric that is becoming mainstreamed and that is tied to a rising crime wave fueled by the same sentiment?

34. What are you going to do to take a more global approach to the issue of migration?

35. What would you do to provide opportunities in the countries that migrants are fleeing from?

36. How do you address the overwhelming amount of money the U.S. federal government spends on defense and military expenditures, at home and abroad, and would you see to it that less money is spent on militarization and more money is spent on social programs?

37. What leadership have you taken on immigration issues, including but not limited to the issues addressed in this questionnaire?

38. On what immigration issues will you take leadership?

Other Sanctuary Members' Writing in Solidarity:

The Sanctuary
Latina Lista
Zuky
Latino Politico
Problem Chylde
Vivir Latino
The Unapologetic Mexican
XicanoPwr