Thread: TX GOP responds to Swinford, et al

A Healthy Immigration Debate is Vital to Our Security

By Tina J. Benkiser
Chairman, Republican Party of Texas

Elected officials who continue to ignore our porous borders are, in fact, contributing to the devastating impact of illegal immigration on Texas and our nation, and that is simply unacceptable. Please call your state legislators today and tell them two things: 1) ignoring problems never solves them, and 2) it is their job to put Texans first in the debate on border security and related immigration matters.

As Americans and Texans, we understand that government is accountable to us the people. We created our government; it did not create us. Government’s purpose is to help us live together in an ordered society, but it should do only what people can’t do for themselves. Securing our borders and dealing justly with those who break our laws are two of the few things that our government should be doing. Yet, some elected officials appear to want government involved in everything but protecting and defending our citizens from those who would treat our borders and laws with utter contempt.

Obviously, securing our borders is an issue that the federal government must address, but, to be blunt, the federal government is failing. Despite the efforts of many of our law and order Texas delegation who are taking the people’s concerns to Washington , D.C. , others are unwilling to listen to the people and their demands to resolve this problem now. As a border state, Texas experiences the devastating impact of porous borders and those who are taking advantage of both our citizens and the government that they own and fund. Thus, until the federal government decides to secure our borders, Texas must try to handle the problem and minimize its harmful effects on our people.

In the current legislative session, some Republican legislators introduced bills that would address various border-related issues and those who disregard our laws. While some of these bills may seem bold and would serve to end the exploitation and abuse of our citizens’ property and tax dollars, the value of debating the issues is also great. Yet, this week many of these reform-minded bills were declared dead, much to the angry dismay of Texans across the State.

As the end of the current legislative session nears, many important issues are still to being debated and resolved. While we must address issues such as the state budget, ensuring taxpayer protection and protecting our private property rights, we must also make sure that legislative proposals allowing Texas to secure its borders and discourage the breaking of our law are given a full chance to be heard.

Americans have grown weary of a federal government unresponsive to our pleas to secure our borders and stop the flood of illegal immigration. However, we cannot give up on demanding that Washington , D.C. handle the mess they created. In the meantime, we must rely on our State’s leaders to fully debate and try finding solutions to the problem ourselves. Simply shoving illegal immigration aside as a federal issue will be disastrous. The issue of securing our borders and ensuring that immigration to this country is done legally is not a partisan issue; it is a common sense Texas issue. Let’s have a little common sense.

By Tina J. Benkiser
Chairman, Republican Party of Texas

I believe we found a GOOD GAL

I believe we found a GOOD GAL

She can be. It depends on the issue.

I started calling these guys yesterday, It is Swinford, he's the problem, he needs to be called daily, make him feel the heat, I'm calling all the folks on the committe. they need to hear from the texas people.