Thread: I received a letter from Senator Hutchison

United States Senate
Washington DC 20510-4304
June 6, 2006

Dear Mr *****,

Thank you for contacting me regarding illegal immigration in the United States. I welcome your thoughts and comments on this issue.

Congress substantially revised our nation's immigration laws in 1996, including the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, expanding the Border Patrol, imposing significant penalties on immigration smugglers, and establishing expedited deportation procedures. In the wake of the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, we have been forced to reexamine our immigration laws and policies in order to elimintae vulnerabilities in our national security while continuing to meet the intent of the Constitution and the demands of international commerce.

Since 2001, Congress has addressed many immigration and border security concerns in the USA PATRIOT Act, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, and the REAL ID Act of 2005. Key provisions have included a systematic plan to monitor the southern border with unmanned aerial vehicles, authorization for an increase in the number of personnel devoted to enforcing immigration laws, and requirements that all applicants for state-issued identification and drivers' licenses prove their lawful presence in the United States.

In October 2005, I introduced S. 1823, the Illegal Enforcement and Empowerment Act, which would grant state and local officials expanded authority to arrest, detain and prosecute illegal aliens. The legislation would also create a Volunteer Border Marshal Program. In addition, I met with U.S. Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff to discuss broad immigration reform measures and the new provisions outlined in my bill. I also led Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) on a tour along the U.S.-Mexico border in the Rio Grande Valley to highlight the need for more agents, technology and funding to secure our borders. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I have worked hard to secure more than $322 million in additional appropriations over the past year for border security, including funding for 1,500 new Border Patrol agents, 50 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigators, 168 detention officers, and almost 2,000 detention beds. Yet, more needs to be done.

The United States has one of the most open immigration policies in the world, and I am aware of the important contributions our immigrants make to our nation. Temporary work visas play an important role in ensuring U.S. companies have the workers they need to succeed in an increasingly competitive marketplace. However, U.S. immigration policy must ensure the American workers have every opportunity to compete for available jobs. In the areas of our economy where voids of talent and skills exist, we need to invest the resources necessary to fill those gaps. For example, I believe we need to increase our country's skills in the areas of math and science, and I recently cosponsored an amendment to the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2006 to assist in this effort by increasing our funding for Advanced Placement courses.

I support the development of a guest worker program which would allow foreign nationals to work in the United States on a seasonal or temporary basis in industries where labor is in critical demand. For this reason I sponsored an amendment to S. 2611, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, to create a pilot temporary guest worker program for those people who do not desire United States citizenship but wish to work temporarily and return to their home country. The Secure Authorized Foreign Employee (SAFE) program would grant visas to authorized nationals of NAFTA or CAFTA-DR countries who receive employment offers in job areas in the United States that have been certified by the Secretary of Labor as having a shortage of workers.

I believe that granting citizenship or lawful permanent residence status to those who entered our country illegally would only encourage others to break our laws in the future. For these reasons, I opposed amnesty provisions set forth in the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006. I voted against S. 2611 because I believe that any legislation addressing immigration must first address safety and security needs of the United States. In a world where terrorists continue to seek to harm Americans, we must protect our citizens. We have every right to know who is in our country, who has crossed our borders, and the purpose and length of their visit. We are negligent if we do not know these things.

The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 was passed by the Senate of May 25, 2006 by a 62 to 36 vote. As this bill now moves to a conference committee with the U.S. House of Representatives, you may be certain that I will monitor this issue and keep your views in mind.

I appreciate hearing from you and hope you will not hesitiate to keep in touch on any issue of concern to you.

Sincerely,

Kay Bailey Hutchison

bad,

I don't agree with her guestworker program. Neither does NumbersUSA. They say something to the effect it will create another class of visas. Like we don't already have enough.

American workers have every opportunity to compete for available jobs.

That's the big problem!

It's like she doesn't get that the lower class is being eaten alive by the illegals. Her answer seems to be let them have the low wage jobs and Americans can be mathematicians and scientist. Oh spare me. Hello, there are some less fortunate people out there that will never be able to even get through a college class.

She isn't considering that there are Americans that do not have the brain power to graduate from high school. Maybe I should take a few of them by her office and let her staff tutor them for a while. It's like that old saying, that dog just don't hunt.

What she need to do is set up schollarships for Americans to take advanced degree plans because we are going to need them in the future.

Dixie

For example, I believe we need to increase our country's skills in the areas of math and science, and I recently cosponsored an amendment to the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2006 to assist in this effort by increasing our funding for Advanced Placement courses.

Hellooooo? Is she not aware that for the past two (if not three) decades American children have been increasingly stunted in their education for many reasons, none the least of which is the requirement (No Child Left Behind) that all chicldren (irregardless of language barriers as well as natural varience in intellectual capablity) attain the same level of skills. All that Act does is handicap traditional students as well as their teachers! What ever happened to special ed? Children who have language difficulty should be isolated from those who do not. If you don't like that statement then my comment is ... this nation could do with a lot less "altruism" and a great deal more "REALISM". The facts are the facts. American children who are not language or background impaired are held back while the energy of the teacher is focused on those whose skills must be brought up to the minimum.

The first thing they need to do is get the "dumb up the Americans" No Child Left Behind Act tossed out on its sorry bums!

Dixie said, She isn't considering that there are Americans that do not have the brain power to graduate from high school. Maybe I should take a few of them by her office and let her staff tutor them for a while. It's like that old saying, that dog just don't hunt.

What she need to do is set up schollarships for Americans to take advanced degree plans because we are going to need them in the future.

Perhaps some of them did have the brain power, it was wasted as they sat around waiting for teachers who were stretched thin bringing "imported" children up to the level the American children started with! AND you are absolutely right American children deserve our tax dollars for their higher education! The American children like the rest of America's LEGAL citizens are being tossed from the pan to the fire and those fools in Washington continue to pander to alien's in an attempt to maintain our "open doors" policy.

Dixie, I gathered from this letter that she is strongly in favor of tight and secure borders and the advancement in technology to see that the borders remain secure in the future. It also seems as though she wants to secure equal opportunity for Americans competing in the market for jobs. She is just as concerned about American businesses that need more labor than the current legal numbers can provide. She would rather have them seek this extra labor through a heavily regulated system of guest workers instead of actually legalizing more aliens to fill jobs that may only be seasonal or temporary. We cannot deny businesses the labor they need, or else they will find unsafe, illegal, and unethical ways to fill the gap. I would say Senator Hutchison is off to a good start.

Xanadu, there is no such word as "irregardless". Oddly enough, I was thinking that our school systems should emphasize more on English and History due to the current situation. We have these radical movements attempting to claim several of the United States for "Aztlan" or even all of the continent of North America for hispanics due to a widespread belief in a distorted and partially false history. We have these wild claims of white racism being spread throughout the American hispanic population partially due to a misunderstanding of terms, such as "illegal" and "racist". We cannot expect to reason with a group of people whose false beliefs stem from a serious lack of proper education.

Xanadu, eloquently and accurately stated! It's so maddening that just thinking about it makes me feel physically ill.

Badthingsman, I just don't agree that businesses need as much foreign "labor" as they seem to think. Dixie is right that the lower class is being eaten alive, and I think the same thing is happening to the middle class too. The gap between rich and poor continues to widen, and I think it's because American workers DON'T have "every opportunity to compete for available jobs." My hubby has TWO college degrees (BSME and MBA) and currently makes about $12/hour. When he lost his job after the post 9-11 recession around here, we got in a deep hole trying to keep from losing our house and everything we had, and now that things in his field are picking back up, he can't get a job because he's been "out of the field" for so long. The TRUTH is he's over 50, and employers think it's cheaper to hire someone who's 23 or to send the work to India, although he'd gladly work for that 23 year old's salary!

Dixie's right too that everyone CANNOT be a scientist or a mathmetician. Maybe you're right about emphasizing US history and English, at least for illegals who seem to have such a problem with it. I DO know every child can't be treated exactly the same when each has different needs and talents!

I agree with a lot that this woman says -- However, how many people do we have in this country who are capable of doing these "jobs" she describes here:

I support the development of a guest worker program which would allow foreign nationals to work in the United States on a seasonal or temporary basis in industries where labor is in critical demand.

What about the American citizens who have become homeless because of their inability to find work -- What about the thousands of people on welfare who should be encouraged to work in these kinds of jobs -- what about the students who want summer work to pay for school?

All of these people are being completely ignored in statements like that!

Here is the reply I intend to send to Senator Hutchison:

Dear Senator,

I appreciate your attention to my concerns, and I am glad to know you are willing to consider my views and opinions in your decision-making process. Until I received your letter, I was unaware of some of the technological advancements being put in place to help secure the borders (e.g. unmanned aerial vehicles). I am now more confident in my belief that my government is taking reasonable action to protect my family and fellow citizens within the United States.

The part of your letter that stuck out to me the most was your support for a guest worker program. Many people hear that single phrase and immediately think of amnesty. I believe the reason why so many people would view a guest worker program as amnesty is because they see jobless citizens everyday, who are out of work due to the competition brought by illegal immigration. I do not believe that the American people are currently willing to openly accept any type of guest worker program due to this very fact. Until we see proof that all U.S. citizens have been given equal and fair opportunities to obtain jobs, we will not welcome foreign labor as it continuously hurts us.

I believe that we should be able to place our unemployed citizens in jobs and end welfare programs that pay money to people who are unable to find work. Once we are certain that this goal has been accomplished, we would then be willing to bring in foreign labor as it is needed, both temporarily and seasonally.

What does the government have to offer me and other concerned citizens to provide proof that all job-seeking Americans have found work? Once we receive this confirmation, we will then be willing to consider the creation of a guest worker program.

Thank you again for your time,

BTM

BTM:

You rock! That's a great letter.

sent!

I got the same letter. From what I read, she is only for SOME parts of the guest worker plan and seems to be paying attention to the scams that lurk within. I felt it was positive I got a response and I am happy to see fellow texans are keeping the fire under her tush.