Barbara Boxer: “we have a very important issue facing us in California. In fact, we have two very important issues facing us in…”

“we have a very important issue facing us in California. In fact, we have two very important issues facing us in California that are intertwined into this particular discussion on immigration policy. One of them deals with the real shortage of high-tech labor that we face in California and elsewhere in the country, where we are finding that the high-tech industry cannot find enough good, qualified people with the proper skills, experience, and training to fill the high-tech jobs that are really fueling our economic recovery and our economic prosperity, not only in California but in many other States. This is a real problem. At first, when I heard about it, I thought, could this be true? Could it be true that we do not have these workers? Since I have asked that question, and a number of others did also, there have been some studies showing that it is the case; that we do have a shortage of these workers. If we don't make accommodations for people to come into this country who have these skills, we will simply not be able to function as an economy. The second problem we face in California--and perhaps in other States, I am sure--is the question of fairness in our immigration law. Fairness really needs to be a hallmark of what we do when it comes to immigration. We should not treat people from one country who face real problems differently from people from another country who face similar problems. Yet we have that with respect to our Latin American policy.”