Immigration - Srinivas Bangarbale

Barack Obama struck a sober tone as he delivered his inaugural speech in front of two million people in Washington on Tuesday, acknowledging the scale of the challenge that he now faces.

Here US voters discuss some of the major issues that matter to them personally, and that the new president will have to tackle.

Barack Obama's priorities for 2009

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Srinivas Bangarbale Director of IT | Independent

Americans have mixed feelings about immigrants. We need them, but aren't sure what to do with them once they get here

Age: 43 Lives: Washington, DC Occupation: Director of IT Political orientation: Independent Last election voted: Obama In 10 words or fewer: Proud of Indian heritage. Proud to be a US citizen Voters' Views: main page

"During the last decade or so, America has had a schizophrenic approach to immigration.

We have welcomed with open arms high-tech professionals. Americans have also moved away from physical labour and menial jobs. This has resulted in the country accepting immigrants less skilled and also less fortunate.

We haven't been exactly welcoming of such immigrants - we need them, but we don't necessarily want them.

The best way to create an illegal activity is to make the legal activity hard or impossible. We have made it too difficult for people to come here legally. This has encouraged mass illegal immigration and attached problems of crime and the creation of a new underclass.

There is also a clamour among some sections that all illegal immigrants in the country must be deported. While I'm definitely opposed to illegal immigration, it is not a feasible proposition to deport millions of people, most of whom are here in search of a better life for themselves and their families.

We should concentrate on assimilating those already here and effectively stop further illegal immigration through a comprehensive reform.

The Bush administration tried to get the legal immigration and guest worker programmes going. It ran into immense resistance from ideologues and unionists.

Barack Obama starts with a sizable majority in the House and the Senate. Since Obama took the support of a lot of pro-immigration groups, he will have to listen to them.

He may not be able to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants. But he can work with enough people to put in place both a guest worker programme as well as effective enforcement to stem the tide of illegal immigration.

It will not be very easy. Americans have mixed feelings about immigrants. We need them, but aren't sure what to do with them once they get here."

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Do you agree with Srinivas Bangarbale? You can add your comments and questions on Mark's views using the form below:

Your comments:

I think you articulated your point very well but I feel I must point out that when discussing immigration one must for clarity sake understand that it is illegal immigration that is the problem. It's been stated over again about how America is a country of immigrants. That is true however it's a country of legal immigration. If your issue is with the policies and procedures relating to immigration well that is certainly debateable and subject to change with the times. However lumping in legal and illegal immigration as one single issue is missing the point of many, many open-minded Americans.
Rob, Minneapolis

We 'ideologues' love immigrants. We simply believe that immigrants should enter the country legally, whether intending to settle, or as temporary workers. No other country tolerates masses running across their border and living undercover in society. What should we do with them once they are here, you ask?
Stephen, Plymouth

I think in some way, both Rob and Stephen might be in violent agreement with my points. As I have articulated, as a legal immigrant myself, I'm definitely opposed to illegal immigration and also am eager for the government to put a stop to it as soon as possible. My point about the "ideologues" is that a hard stance some people took actually ended up setting back the prospects for a reasonable immigration reform that could have introduced a guest worker programme and created the first steps towards ending the stream of illegal immigration. I think in the end, all the parties have to keep their eyes on the objectives of any reform program and be ready to compromise. The other point that I have made is about the feasibility of any deportation policy - it's simply not feasible to deport all the illegal immigrants in the country. We shouldn't have been in this position, but now that we are, we shouldn't let the perfect become the enemy of the good.
Srinivas Bangarbale, Washington DC

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