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  1. #1
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    Mayor Allen Autry on Lou Dobbs Show Transcript

    Well, joining me is the mayor of Fresno, California, Allen Autry. And thanks very much for being here, sir.

    MAY. ALLEN AUTRY, FRESNO, CA: Kitty, thanks for having me, appreciate it.

    PILGRIM: You know, you gave these comments in the State of the City Speech, which I read. State of the City, and yet a federal problem. You think it's applicable, why?

    AUTRY: Well, Kitty, technically I suppose when someone chooses to cross the border illegally, it is a federal issue, I guess. But all of the consequences that follow, are 100 percent local. And every mayor in the state of California, and rapidly every mayor across this country I think will attest to that. In terms of...

    PILGRIM: Excuse me, go ahead.

    AUTRY: Most specifically in terms of the overwhelming of our education system, Kitty, the healthcare system. The emergency rooms are being just flooded with folks looking for healthcare, because that's the only place they have to go.

    If I were them, I would do the same thing, too. If my kid gets sick. That's the only place I have to go, I'm going to go there. The jails here in Fresno County, 13 percent are illegal immigrants. And L.A. County, I heard that 25 percent and going up. You can go on and on. So all of those are local issues, Kitty.

    PILGRIM: This is a bit of a numbers issue. You called for a two-year moratorium on immigration. I would like to clarify where you mean all immigration, legal and illegal or just illegal? And why two years?

    AUTRY: Well, I used to play a little ball in the National Football League. And one thing I learned when things are going to pot on the field, you call a time-out. When things deteriorate to the point you just can't get it together -- I think we're here on that issue.

    If I supported the closing of the borders, Kitty, like I'm being accused of by some political groups, which I knew were going to come after me on this, I would have said that. I do not support closing the borders.

    But to say that we don't need to take time to call a halt, hold on, get together, come together first, and work together on a plan to address this issue, we're just going to simply be a -- swamped to the point where we may not be able to come back in this generation, economically, for sure in the state of California. So that's why I support a moratorium.

    I also don't buy, Kitty, the premise that the businesses are going to go under if we have a two-year moratorium, because there's nothing in the immigration world that is going to hinge or fall or the sky is going to fall by waiting two years to get a good solid plan together that includes a guest worker program, secure borders. And I tell you, Kitty, I don't believe supporting of a secure border and pro-immigration are two opposing positions and that's my position.

    PILGRIM: You waded into a firestorm. And in fact, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California also brought down a lot of comments when he waded into this issue. You have offered to host a summit on immigration. Who do you think should come? Who do you think would be appropriate to come?

    AUTRY: Well, three entities -- actually four have to be there, local government, the government of Mexico, I will be issuing an invitation to President Fox, a representative of President Bush and the governor's office.

    It's going to take all of these entities working together to come up with solutions. Because I really don't have any interest, I done think the people of Fresno, I know they don't and California and America as well to just talk about how bad things are.

    We have to come up with solutions. We have to come up with solutions in a very quick fashion. Because what was once a problem we saw developing two decades ago is now on us in a full fledged crisis.

    And, Kitty, I tell you, it's a human disaster as well as an economic disaster. That's what moved my heart more. I work these fields out in the San Joaquin Valley. My dad was a migrant farm worker. I picked cotton, I chopped cotton, I cut grapes. And the system worked back then.

    Everybody learned English. A lot of my Mexican friends now own their own business, are multimillionaires, a lot richer than I am, because the system worked.

    We have to bring a system back where those good hardworking people that crossed this border can come into this great country with their dignity and their lives, Kitty, not just their hard work ethic which is unparalleled.

    There's people dying every day on that border. These coyotes that -- corrupt coyotes that take the money from these folks, leave them abandoned in trucks out on the borders. It's just a human disaster as well as an economic disaster. We have to address it.

    PILGRIM: Tough situation. And thanks very much for joining us to discuss it tonight. Mayor Allen Autry. Thank you, sir.

    AUTRY: Appreciate it.
    http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/ ... dt.01.html

    I like the old boy and think he did well. He has jumped into the fire with both feet.
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  2. #2

    Join Date
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    Mayor Autry, Bubba, you done good.

    Hoorah!
    When we gonna wake up?

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