Norman Adams Explains The Texas Solution
Hello. I’m Norman Adams, a delegate from SD-15, Houston, Texas. appreciate the fact that you’ve come to this convention. I know what these conventions are like; I like to compare them to a root canal. Let’s hope we have a lot more fun this year than your average root canal.
I’d like to talk about immigration reform, the Texas Solution that our 10,000 plus delegates came together and pounded out in 2012, the Texas Solution that’s in our platform today, and I’m urging you to keep it there.
The Texas Solution does not have any pathway to citizenship, period. It modernizes the 1936 Social Security card. It requires these guest workers we allow to stay to work only for employers who deduct and match taxes. When people say ‘I don’t want that Texas Solution because that’s amnesty,’ the truth is, what we have right now with no solution is de facto amnesty. Because we’re not identifying these people, we don’t know who they are, we’re not forcing them to pay taxes, we don’t have any method by which an employer knows for sure who is legal and who is not legal. It’s an obvious bonus for all of us to have a method to make these folks legal. Not only will we collect taxes on them, but then you will find that the immigrant worker who right now doesn’t even consider negotiating for his wages will then be legal, he will have a status and go to another employer, he can negotiate for increased wages – which means all wages go up. All labor wages will go up. That will be a plus for American workers too.
It is time for a solution. That is exactly what 10,000 delegates in 2012 decided. It’s time to quit kicking the can down the road. Let’s have a solution. Our 2010 platform was nothing but a litany of problems, real problems, but there was no solution offered. So in our 2012 platform and hopefully again in our 2014 platform we will have an improved version of the Texas Solution. But we will have a guest worker program. We will have a solution that we can say, "Hey Congress, hey Texas delegation, follow Texas." Follow Texas – help us keep Texas red! God bless you – thank you for being here.
Norman E. Adams
Co-founder
Texans for Sensible Immigration Reform
SD 15