Jim was born and raised in the Burncoat neighborhood of Worcester. The values he learned from his friends and family are the same ones he fights for every day in Congress: fairness, decency, respect for all people, and the idea that each of us has an obligation to give back to our community. Jim’s parents, Walter and Mindy, own a small package store in Worcester, and his sisters are both public school teachers. He is married to Lisa Murray McGovern and they have two children, Patrick and Molly.
Congressman McGovern feels that immigration laws need to be tough at the border, and that American workers and immigrants who came to the country legally should not be punished for businesses’ exploitation of cheap and illegal labor. However, the Congressman also feels that there needs to be a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who are already here, and the federal government should take bold steps to require them to pass background checks, learn English, and pay a fine.
Congressman McGovern supports immigration reform with four key components: First, we must improve the effectiveness of our border security to prevent people from crossing the border illegally. Second, we must crack down on employers who recruit, hire and exploit illegal workers. Third, we must develop a common-sense approach to people who are already here illegally, to bring them out of the shadows and onto a path to citizenship. And fourth, we must have an effective and efficient system in place to process, in a timely manner, the large volume of requests to legally visit or immigrate to the United States.
Immigration reform is an issue that has been put off and pushed down the road for too long, and Congressman McGovern supports immediate bipartisan action on the issue to solve the broken immigration system once and for all.