Thread: Graves: Trip shows severity of illegal immigration

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Graves: Trip shows severity of illegal immigration

12/19/06
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State Rep. Tom Graves said his visit to the Mexican border with three other North Georgia lawmakers was an eye-opening experience.

“It made it very obvious just how big our illegal immigration problem is,” the Ranger Republican said.

Graves spent three days in Cochise County, Ariz., last week, talking with residents and observing efforts by the border patrol and citizen groups to stem the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs from Mexico. With him were state Reps. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, and Martin Scott, R-Rossville, and state Sen. Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock.

“Cochise County has 83 miles of border with Mexico. Ten miles of that border is fenced, the other 73 is not,” Graves said. “That fence is a wonderful deterrent to illegal aliens — until you get to the end of it.”

“That 10-mile fence with floodlights totally cut out all drug and human smuggling,” Loudermilk said. “However, where that fence ends, there are just some railroad ties or barbed wire fences with multiple cuts in them. They just pour across there.”



Graves said the group learned that illegal aliens are not staying in Arizona, Texas or New Mexico but are heading to the interior states, where the jobs are.

“What we saw was evidence of an invasion on a continual basis, and that’s just one county,” he said.

The group plans to meet before the Jan. 8 start of the Georgia General Assembly session to discuss legislation that could lessen the lure of Georgia for smugglers of drugs and humans.

“Until the federal government does its job, what we will do is continue enacting legislation to make it less attractive for an illegal alien to live in Georgia,” Graves said.

Loudermilk said their guides — a former border patrol agent and members of the Minuteman civilian volunteer force — praised the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act.

The controversial and comprehensive legislation, passed last year, contains a host of provisions aimed at reserving state jobs and public benefits for people who are in the country legally.

“Most of these people coming across are not the poor and downtrodden,” Loudermilk said. “Most are skilled laborers who want higher paying jobs and our government services.”

The lawmakers’ concerns are somewhat understandable to Erik Meder, staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF). But Meder said only the federal government has the legal authority to control immigration.

“These state and local initiatives show a consensus that the federal government has failed to provide a sound immigration policy,” he said. “But there are a handful of things we can’t have 50 of. If states are unsatisfied with a military action, can they raise their own armies?”

Meder said such efforts are “regretfully sending a very expensive message to Washington D.C.,” when the courts toss out state and local laws on constitutional grounds, as they invariably do.

MALDEF is challenging Georgia’s law, he said, and expects to sue Cherokee County over a new housing ordinance requiring landlords to ensure their tenants are legally in the country.

Perhaps it should be required all representatives spent 3 days on the border.
Wouldn't mind sending my lame governor along with them.

Charles, same here. Senator Bennett would probably welcome them w/ open arms though.

Perhaps MALDEF needs to read the constitution and other documents that say the government gives the states and municipalities the rights to make and enforce their own laws as they see fit