Updated Jun 15, 2012 - 3:23 pm
Sinema: Immigration policy change good for Arizona economy
Comments (3) | 
Print | Originally published: Jun 15, 2012 - 2:54 pm
As the debate continues over a new immigration policy change, one Arizona lawmaker is going against the grain and saying that the change will benefit Arizona's economy.
"The bottom line is that, for 800,000 young people, they can go get jobs now," Arizona congressional candidate Kyrsten Sinema told News/Talk 92.3 KTAR's Karie & Chuck Show. "To be honest, I'm spending less time wondering why now or why not earlier and more time thinking about the great economic benefit that's going to come to our state."
Sinema is a big proponent of the DREAM Act and said that it would benefit the U.S. to keep current, American-educated immigrants in the country, rather than being forced to bring in more immigrants from another country to fill jobs.
"What's unique about these 800,000 young people is that many of them are very highly educated," she said. "For instance, here in Arizona, we have scores and hundreds of so-called DREAM Act kids who have not just bachelor's degrees, but master's degrees...we've got all sorts of students with really highly technical skills and they're able to fill jobs that many Americans just can't fill."
The next steps for illegal immigrants is to apply for work visas and try to find work, according to Sinema, adding that the children affected by the new policy are "our kids" and they deserve a chance to contribute to Arizona.
Sinema has served in both the Arizona House and Senate.
