Thread: Senator Lugar on IA's and DREAM Act

Senator Lugar,

You recently responded to my email about illegal immigration and the DREAM Act in particular, with the following email. I would now like to respond to your answers:

LUGAR: I share many of your concerns regarding immigration enforcement and border security and have consistently supported immigration enforcement and border security efforts. I supported the Secure Fence Act, which authorized the construction of approximately 700 miles of fencing at specified locations along the 2000-mile Southwest U.S. international border with Mexico. The Southwest Border Initiative has doubled the number of agents assigned to the Border Enforcement Security Task Forces, tripled the number of intelligence analysts along the Southwest border, and sent in additional canine teams. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has also increased the number of agents by over 50 percent since 2000. As of September 2010, there were 20,558 CBP agents, making it the largest protection agency in the country. Enforcement efforts in 2009 led to the deportation of 387,790 illegal immigrants. Since 2007, over 1,000,000 illegal immigrants have been deported.

While these all sound like good actions, the truth is that the 700 miles of fencing was supposed to be a double fence with roadway in between, not the flimsy, too short fence put up instead. I can show you countless videos of illegal aliens, easily scaling those fences. Instead we got an expensive boondoggle fence, called a "virtual" fence that now has been abandoned after hundreds of millions of dollars were wasted. Had the fence we told you we wanted, been built, we'd be much further down the road to securing our border.

LUGAR: Likewise, I have supported a number of proposals to increase accountability to ensure that employers follow the rules and employ only individuals who are here legally, including the E-Verify program. The E-Verify program allows employers to check an employee's information against databases maintained by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration. In fact, my office uses this program when hiring new employees.

E-Verify needs to be made mandatory for ALL employers. If the illegals can't find a job, and we cut off all public assistance to them, they'll have to return to their home countries, thereby saving u the expense of deporting them.

LUGAR: In addition, I recently supported a legislative proposal that would have prohibited federal agencies from participating in lawsuits seeking to invalidate the Arizona immigration law. I also supported three separate amendments that would have appropriated additional funding and added 6,000 National Guard troops to secure the Southwest border. Unfortunately, these measures did not receive the necessary votes to pass.

The federal government's lawsuit against Arizona is outraeous and needs to be stopped! We spend billions and the lives of our troops to defend the borders of Iraq and Afghanistan, but we can't use our "National" Guard, to defend our own national borders? This is inexcusable!

LUGAR: Within this immigration reform context, I also believe we need to realistically address the immigration status of a select group of high achieving students who came to our country as children and who want to serve in our military or pay their own way to attend college and contribute to our country. (DREAM Act)

You cannot reward an illegal act, by rewarding the criminal with the very thing they seek, which in this case, is legal residency. While the children of illegal aliens may not have had a chance to object to their parents illegal actions, they certainly became aware of it at some point, and made no attempt to return to their home country and apply for legal entry. By legalizing these people, you are sending a message to future illegal aliens, that we are an easy target, not serious about enforcing our laws. It is unfortunate that these young people have parents that broke the law, but they themselves continue to break the law, using false or stolen ID, to continue their illegal presence in our country. If we make an example of these people, we will send a message to the world, that we are serious about defending our borders and the rule of law. We also need to stop the awarding of citzenship to the children of illegal alien parents. The 14th Ammendment, clearly does not apply to the children of illegals, as anyone who doesn't have an interest in subverting our laws, can plainly see. The clause, "under the jurisdiction thereof" as well as other wording in the ammendment, make it obvious that the children of illegal aliens, do not qualify for citizenship.

In closing, I would like to say that we have a finite amount of resources in our country, both natural and financial. We cannot afford to continue to let millions of illegal aliens into our country. If our economy is based on adding more and more people to "grow" our economy, then we are doomed to failure. At 305+ million people, our country is already nearing its' capacity, while still maintaining the lifestyle we have become accustomed to. We must find a way to stabilize our population growth and develop an economy based on supporting that population. The U.S. has now fallen to 11th in the world, for quality of life, according to a recent Newsweek survey. If we continue to allow third world peoples to illegally occupy our country, we will soon become one ourselves. I pray that you and our other elected representatives, will honor your oath of office and protect the rights and needs of American citizens over those of aliens. For some reason that I cannot fathom, you seem hell-bent on doing the opposite.

Didn't this Senator vote "YES" for the dream act?

yes and he was at one time a co sponsor when it first came out

Fox said he wasn't seeking re-election, which is a good thing!

He's still in the race, and raising money, as far as I know.

Lugar used to be a solid conservative voice, but in his old age, he's become more moderate.

He's always been a bit of a mush. Although you're right to say he's become even worse over the past decade or so. One of the worst things about Jesse Helms's illness, other than forcing him to retire from the Senate, is that it allowed Lugar to become the ranking Republican on the Foreign Policy Committee.

They need to change seniority rules in the Senate.

Seems like the longer they are in office the worse they become. They lose sight of what the American Public wants and needs. They flip flop on just about every issue depending on the way the wind is blowing.

Originally Posted by BillCunnane

Seems like the longer they are in office the worse they become. They lose sight of what the American Public wants and needs. They flip flop on just about every issue depending on the way the wind is blowing.

I hew to the adage from Lord Acton:

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."