Thread: Blanche Lincoln Reply

Nothing new here.




September 28, 2007




Dear :

Thank you for contacting me about immigration reform and border security.

Our immigration system is broken and our first priority must be to secure our borders. This is a homeland security issue first and foremost and I believe we should act now to address this problem. Unfortunately, steady increases in the number of border patrol agents over the last several years has thus far not produced adequate results in securing our nation’s borders. While traffic from areas where we have placed more enforcement has decreased, illegal border crossings remain a serious and on-going problem.

To help address this issue, Congress passed and the President signed the Secure Fence Act last fall with my support which directed the Department of Homeland Security to construct 850 miles of additional border fencing. The legislation will increase the mileage of existing fencing and improve vehicle barriers installed along the southwest border of the United States. Furthermore, this legislation will provide enhanced border surveillance through more effective use of personnel and technology, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, ground-based sensors, satellites, radar coverage, and cameras. I believe this bill represents an important step in the right direction but more work needs to be done.

The immigration reform bill the Senate debated in the spring also focused on improving border security and would have added to the improvements enacted by Congress in 2006. The bill would have doubled the number of border patrol agents, increased the amount of detention space for apprehended aliens, and put in place tough worksite enforcement measurers to crack down on employers who hire undocumented workers. Under this legislation, the Secretary of Homeland Security was required to certify that these measurers were being implemented and that our government had established operational control of our borders before new immigration applications authorized in the bill could be processed.

While I believe all of these additional security measurers are needed, we can’t fix our nation’s immigration system by improving border security and immigration enforcement alone. We must also confront the reality that an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants live and work in the United States with more trying to enter every day. There are no simple or easy solutions to this complex problem. While some have suggested all undocumented individuals should be deported, I don’t think that approach is practical or economically viable. According to one recent estimate, under the current enforcement rates, it would take 100 years to deport 12 million aliens which provides some perspective on the magnitude of the problem.

At the same time, I don’t think it is fair to American taxpayers or legal immigrants to give amnesty to aliens who have broken our immigration laws. That is why I favored the approach contained in this Senate bill that didn’t grant amnesty but instead required undocumented aliens who wanted an opportunity to remain in the United States to pay a $5,000 fine, keep a job, learn English, pay taxes, including back taxes, and stay out of trouble with the law. I think this is a realistic and practical way forward that would allow us to identify undocumented persons living in our country, ensure they are paying the taxes they owe, and enable our government to focus attention on stopping the flow of illegal immigrants across our borders in the future.

I supported moving forward with this Senate immigration reform bill because the status quo is unacceptable. The legislation provided an opportunity to get a handle on a growing and complex problem that will likely get worse the longer we wait to fix it. In addition to tougher border security measurers, the legislation also contained other key reforms that would have addressed some of the fundamental problems with our current system. Specifically, the bill established a worksite enforcement system to prevent employers from hiring undocumented workers, put in place a functional guest worker program that will lessen the incentive for individuals to risk entering our country illegally, and dealt realistically with the undocumented population that is already here.



Unfortunately, the Senate bill was defeated in June and the issue of broad immigration reform is not expected to be reconsidered in Congress until 2009 at the earliest. In the meantime, the undocumented population in the United States will likely grow larger, worksite enforcement won’t be as strong as it could be and farmers will continue to struggle to hire legal workers to harvest their crops. Consequently, a possible solution in the future may be more difficult and more expensive to achieve than it would be today.

While extending our border fence, deploying more sophisticated detection technology, working with employers to prevent undocumented workers from holding a job, and stepping up enforcement efforts to arrest illegal aliens who are members of street gangs or who have been ordered to leave the Unites States can help address some of the shortcomings we face today, until we take on all facets of this issue in a technologically modern and comprehensive way, as the Senate bill attempted to do, many of the problems we are struggling to confront today will likely remain unsolved.



I love this country and am committed to doing everything I can to defend it and make it stronger. I believe people are passionate about this issue because they love this country too and are concerned about its future. Though finding a solution won’t be easy, I am confident we are capable of rising to the challenge in the future and I stand ready to do my part.

Again, thank you for contacting me. I am proud to represent the people of Arkansas in the United States Senate and hope you will not hesitate to let me know whenever I may be of assistance.



Sincerely,



Blanche L. Lincoln

Blanche, you need to take a pill. Obviously, you're views don't match the majority of the American people.

Unfortunately, the Senate bill was defeated in June and the issue of broad immigration reform is not expected to be reconsidered in Congress until 2009 at the earliest.

So Blanche supports amnesty for illegal aliens.

Blanche definitely supports amnesty, and it's highly unlikely she'll waver on that. I believe she is a lost cause. I've gone to her office with a group of activists several times(she wasn't there) and made our position known. There is video footage on youtube of the visit. I've emailed, faxed and called her offices repeatedly, and I always get the same letter, or in the case of a call, the same "comprehensive immigration reform" blather from her staff.

Blanche represents rural Arkansas, and there are many farmers who depend on cheap, illegal labor. She is a LULAC loyalist, and I'm asssuming she gets some funding from them. She seems completely unfazed by the negative impact of illegal immigration. I'm not in her voting district, but I know people who are and are plenty disgusted with her.

"Our immigration systems is broken........" BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.......