Thread: Brooks: Empower states to deal with illegal immigration

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2011/07/post_688.html

Congressman Mo Brooks: Empower states to deal with illegal immigration
Published: Sunday, July 24, 2011, 7:37 AM Updated: Sunday, July 24, 2011, 8:14 AM
Steve Doyle, The Huntsville Times By Steve Doyle, The Huntsville Times

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks plans to introduce a bill in Congress that would give Alabama and other states broad powers to deal with illegal immigration.

Brooks, R-Huntsville, mentioned the idea during a Saturday town hall meeting that also highlighted the tense budget debate in Washington.

The former Madison County commissioner said he believes the federal government has been "derelict in its duty" when it comes to enforcing immigration rules.

"There are exceptions (in the law) that you can drive a Mack truck full of illegal aliens through," he said.

Brooks said his bill would empower state governments to come up with their own solutions for dealing with undocumented workers.

Alabama's new Republican-controlled Legislature recently passed a sweeping immigration law that makes it a crime not to have papers showing you're in Alabama legally, and bars knowingly renting to, transporting or hiring an illegal immigrant.

However, nearly 40 plaintiffs, including the Huntsville-based AIDS Action Coalition, filed a federal lawsuit earlier this month seeking to have the law blocked.

Their suit argues that the law violates a host of constitutional guarantees, including freedom of religion and protection against unlawful searches.

Brooks acknowledged that his proposed bill is a long shot with Republicans and Democrats so far apart on how to deal with illegal immigration.

"But that doesn't mean you don't try, because sometimes underdogs win," he said after the meeting. "My goal is to keep introducing it year after year, slowly gaining support, until it finally does pass."

Saturday's event at the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library capped a whirlwind week that saw Brooks, little known outside the Rocket City a year ago, appear on MSNBC twice to make a case for a balanced federal budget.

On Monday, Brooks went toe-to-toe with the Rev. Al Sharpton. Two days later, he had a testy exchange with the cable network's Contessa Brewer about rising deficits.

"Do you have a degree in economics?" Brewer asked sarcastically.

"Yes, ma'am, I do, highest honors," said Brooks, who double-majored in economics and political science at Duke University.

"Sometimes, you just get lucky with a question," Brooks told the audience Saturday.

The freshman lawmaker said it's a "100 percent economic certainty" that the United States will go bankrupt if it continues racking up trillion-dollar budget deficits year after year.

He likened the problem to a person with a $50,000 salary spending $80,000 a year - while also trying to pay off a $320,000 Visa bill.

Brooks said foreign entities now own 47 percent of America's debt. China alone earns enough interest from the U.S. to potentially buy three new joint strike fighter jets every week, he said.

"We are helping them build up their military," Brooks said. "If they end up being a foe ... we are the ones who have empowered them to be aggressive, and perhaps to be aggressive successfully."

The solution, in Brooks' view, is a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget phased in over several years. He said that's the only way he would agree to raise the nation's debt ceiling.

In response to an audience question about illegal immigration, Brooks gave a milder answer than he did at a similar forum last month.

During that earlier meeting, Brooks said he supports any measure "short of shooting them" that would force illegal immigrants back to their home countries.

U.S. Rep. Charles Gonzalez, D-Texas, and other Hispanic leaders condemned Brooks' remarks. The group Somos Republicans! (We Are Republicans!) called on him to "stop bashing illegal immigrants, and instead work with his colleagues on a complete overhaul of our broken immigration system."

On Saturday, Brooks said he would support anything "that you can lawfully do" to deter illegal immigration.

The former Madison County commissioner said he believes the federal government has been "derelict in its duty" when it comes to enforcing immigration rules.

As do 80% of Americans! The other 20% are benefiting from their presence.

Because-- the federal government was remiss in enforcing our laws and because we (me, you), were unaware of the magnitude of the illegals in country , and because we (me, at least), did not see the number of these people on a daily basis, we remained ignorant of the situation. This resulted in the numbers of illegals growing to nation size illegal immigration. (25-30 million)

The federal governments failure to enforce has resulted in numbers of illegal aliens that far exceeded the capacity of DHS to enforce. In the 80s it was estimated to be about 3 millions illegal immigrants in country. Today, depending on which site you view , the number is as high as 30 million, counting families. The number of jobs taken by illegals is estimated to be over 7 million. (Just imagine restoring half of that to American workers.)

This is too large a problem for the federal government. None of us, at least the conservatives , want a DHS that is large enough to handle the issues. This would grow the government employment through the roof.

We should assign existing employees of the DHS to be the interfaces with each state and share enforcement of illegal immigration with the states. It is our front line local police who encounter the illegals on a daily basis. They should be funded for the extra effort in detecting illegal aliens in the local efforts to support laws they normally support.

Many will say this is in effect now. If so, why are sheriffs saying they do not have the manpower??? Why is DHS only able to apprehend a couple of thousand a years out of millions??? Why are illegals being released from jails or not brought to court??

All, in my opinion for two reasons.
#1 as always, MONEY,money. States, counties , cities have a lot of overhead to handle these cases. Compensate them.

#2 Spitting contests , or "Don't interfere with my job, which is too much for me to handle". DHS is so darned territorial they waste time defending their turf.

I give you a third which many will reject--the old argument about legalizing marijuana. Locally, if the effort to "catch" the marijuana users was eliminated through legalization and regulation, a large amount of the 42 billion dollars a year , the current cost of the WOD (War on Drugs), would be released to aid in the illegal invasion fight.

I know--legalize pot?? I was one of the strongest opponents of that for most of my life. I would still be, if I believed it could be enforced. The number of young lived ruined because of the drug laws are in the millions because of the laws against marijuana. When Prohibition was in effect, it showed that legislating some issues is a failing proposition. Also, one could not do an online background check on the young folks to enforce a life sentence, in those days.

Summary,
Enable and fund state and local efforts to fight illegal immigration.
Change the laws on marijuana usage and calculate the costs of the current methods of enforcement.
Allocate the savings of drug war funding to the states and local law enforcement.

Even if local law increases the size of their police force, more feet on the street will be an added deterrent to all types of crime.