Thread: Goodlatte Calls Illegal Immigration No. 1 Domestic Issue

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Tuesday

August 8, 2006 4:01 PM

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Goodlatte Calls Illegal Immigration No. 1 Domestic Issue Posted 2006-08-08

By Dan Wright





HARRISONBURG — Immigration is the nation’s No. 1 domestic issue, and the nation must secure its borders and enforce existing laws, U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-6th, told a business group on Monday.

Goodlatte, whose Western Virginia district includes Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, told the Harrisonburg Rotary Club that immigration affects all parts of society.

The seven-term congressman said the issue has been building for two decades. It’s compounded by the problem of easy-to-get forged documents, which "every credit card company knows how to solve," he said, with secure, smart-card identification.

On granting amnesty to illegal immigrants already in the country, Goodlatte differs with many in Washington, including some in his own party.

"If you have committed an immigration infraction, you have to leave the country, adjust your status and then come back," said Goodlatte, who faces two independent challengers in his bid for an eighth term this fall. "That’s a big difference between me and the Senate and the president."

Goodlatte spoke to about 120 members of Rotary and later met with reporters and editors of the Daily News-Record.

A Lot Of Issues

Mexico has numerous issues that the United States cannot solve, but the U.S. can do business with Mexico, he said.

Goodlatte believes the North American Free Trade Agreement has helped the Mexican economy by advancing free trade.

"We have a lot of disputes with Mexico, but I think NAFTA works well," he explained. "There is a pretty open market on products coming in from Mexico, and vice versa."

NAFTA, he explained, has created greater opportunity in northern Mexico, since it’s closer to U.S. markets, than in the southern part of the country.

And increasingly, he said, illegal immigrants come from further south in Mexico and Central America.

The United States is a nation of immigrants, drawn from all over the world for opportunity, Goodlatte said. But, he added, it also is a nation of laws.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 was created to reduce and ultimately stop illegal immigration; however, it was enforced modestly at the outset of the law and negligibly today, he said.

"That’s true of this administration and the previous administration," Goodlatte said. "We would not be in the situation we’re in today if there had been serious and consistent enforcement."

Contact Dan Wright at 574-6293 or dwright@dnronline.com

Goodlatte certainly does not have the answer...NEXT!