The pro-Migrant bloggers over at the The Sanctuary website are making national news by trying to do a very difficult thing: keep Obama and McCain honest about their immigration agenda. It seems that in an effort to catch the majority of the ever growing “Latino vote,” Obama and McCain are flip flopping all over themselves, changing what they say depending on what audience they are speaking to.

So in June, the folks at The Sanctuary made a basic request; they asked each candidate to respond to a 38 Question Candidate Survey. You can probably guess the response. Neither candidate has completed the survey nor, until the Survey made national news, had either candidate even responded.

From CNN’s report on The Survey:

Kety Esquivel, Christian progressive blogger, founder of Crossleft.org: Well, I think one of the things that has given us pause as a community has been the flip-flopping, has been him going back and forth on different issues that are important to our community. So if, for example, he says to our community in a closed- door room meeting –

Kiran Chetry, CNN Anchor: You’re talking about McCain here?

Esquivel: Correct. If he says to us one thing, we want to be able to see that that’s the same thing that he thinks (says to) the American populace as a whole. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen that consistency. And that’s I think what’s giving a lot of people pause.

Here are a few questions from the survey:

1. Could you please articulate what you think are the most pressing issues for the U.S. immigrant community, at home AND abroad, and how you would hope to address those issues as President?

2. Do you support comprehensive immigration reform?
Yes No
Please explain.
How long have you held this position?

3. What policy conditions would comprehensive immigration reform have to meet in order for you to support it? Please be specific?

4. Do you support the establishment of an expanded guest worker program?
Yes No
Please explain.
How long have you held this position?

I joked with my amigo Nezua over at the Unapologetic Mexican that the “how long have you held this position” would do both Obama and McCain in. And I suggested the question might instead be “how long will you hold this position?”

But immigration policy is no laughing matter. Hundreds of thousands of people, who are working to support America’s spine, toil in harsh labor conditions and are being abused by employers who choose to take advantage of cheap undocumented labor. Part of the reason immigrant labor is so cheap is that employers do not want to provide basic worker protections mandated automatically for US Citizens, so they hire people without papers.

Do not be hoodwinked into an overly simplified “they” are taking our jobs screed. Don’t blame people for coming to this country to work hard. Confront employers only hiring illegal workers. Find out if they are paying minimum wages and providing legal benefits. Demand changes in the system that allows employers to brazenly break the law in the chase of massive profit.