"I'm not saying that all the illegal immigrants in this country are committing crimes, but there are a significant number who are," Lungren said, pointing to MS-13, a violent youth gang with Salvadoran roots, as an example. "When you've got your own homegrown gangs, you don't need another."


Lungren advocates secure borders, war on terror during feisty town hall

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

By Josh McCoy

I disagree with you" was a common refrain in Saturday's question and answer session with Congressman Dan Lungren (R-CA), as the former California attorney general lived up to the "top cop" title with a blunt discourse on securing U.S. borders and staying the course in Iraq, despite some local concern that he reconsider his position.

The congressman, who took 59.5 percent of the vote in the North Central Valley district last year, took a few minutes at the start of the town hall meeting at the Jackson Civic Center to introduce his bull-riding, computer-savvy, Berkeley-educated staff. With the hat-tipping over, he started on immigration with an overhead that read, "Congress must protect our sovereign borders."

"I'm not saying that all the illegal immigrants in this country are committing crimes, but there are a significant number who are," Lungren said, pointing to MS-13, a violent youth gang with Salvadoran roots, as an example. "When you've got your own homegrown gangs, you don't need another."

Lungren said he is working on two bills that, if passed, would increase border patrol agents, provide means for a new "tamper-proof" social security card and establish a temporary work program that would allow foreign workers, primarily in agriculture, to work (and be taxed) in the U.S. for a maximum of 10 months out of the year.

The second bill he said would redefine American citizenship, requiring at least one parent of a child born in the states to be a citizen for the child to be a citizen. He also expressed an interest in building a barrier on the U.S.-Canadian border in certain strategic locations.

During the public response time, which ran past its noon cut-off, immigration was one issue that caused little disagreement from members of the audience, who called for an increase in President Eisenhower-style roundups and complained that a proposed 700-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border was taking too long to construct. The construction of the new fence was part of the Secure Fence Act that passed 283-138 in the House of Representatives on Oct. 26, 2006.

Lungren seemed to ruffle more feathers with his views on the war in Iraq, which he described as "the most important front in the war on terror." When an audience member complained about the cost of the war, already in the hundreds of billions of dollars by any estimate, and asked that it be spent elsewhere, Lungren balked.

"If you're asking for us to withdraw precipitously, I disagree with you tremendously," Lungren said. "(We can't) allow them to make good on their claim to kill 4 million Americans."

The latter statement, referring to threats made online by an al-Qaeda spokesman, drew applause from the front half of the room. Lungren continued:

"The idea of tolerance, if taken too far, leads one to think that all cultures are equally good, (even) those who've said they're out to destroy us. We forget that we have the right to say, 'Our ideas are good and are better than the other ones."

Concerning finances, Lungren blamed recent legislation against "exploratory" drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and offshore drilling that has traditionally funded schools and other social institutions, he said. He also complained about recent "disincentives" for using natural gas and coal in the U.S., which he described as "the Saudi Arabia" of coal and shale oil.

"I think it's kind of stupid and kind of selfish," Lungren said. "Maybe if we rename it 'deep-sea drilling' people won't be so upset."

Lungren said the United States. should look into clean uses of coal and the possibility of using forest overgrowth for bio-fuel. He praised the U.S. for having the best educational opportunities in the world, a low inflation rate, and for creating jobs at a faster rate than other countries.

Lungren said that job creation, risk and continual education for workers are the keys to the maintaining a U.S. "exceptionalism" in the world.

Bad government spending habits should be replaced by more control at a local level, he said, and then quoted Frederic Bastiat, "The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else."

When Pine Grove resident Renee Chapman asked him why he had failed to deliver a requested $100,000 for a community college presence in Amador County, Lungren said he didn't like the practice of putting "earmarks" on House bills, though he admitted to having authored some, mostly transportation related.

"(Chapman's argument) is the same I hear from everybody," said Lungren. "If you need money for a community college in Amador County, you ought to raise it yourself."

Lungren left for another appointment immediately after the meeting but the approximately 50 attendants lingered with the donuts.

"He does right in that he represents the district," said Randy Bayne, one of a minority of Democrats in attendance. "But his policies are all screwed up."

Regardless of issue differences, some people said they respected Lungren's candid responses.

"He didn't answer (the questions) like a politician," said Ralph Harder with the Amador County Republican Central Committee. "He answered (them) like a real person."

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