Thread: What's your take on this?

I received the following email from my Congressional Representative:

Thank you for contacting me in opposition to President
Bush's immigration reform proposal. It was good to hear from
you, and I appreciate your taking the time to contact me.

I understand your concerns about this issue. As you know,
President Bush has proposed major changes in U.S. immigration
policy, particularly regarding illegal aliens. Under the proposal,
immigrants who are living in the United States illegally would be
able to apply for a visa to work in the country for up to six years
before being required to return to their home countries. They
would also be required to pay substantial fines and would not be
automatically eligible for permanent residency or U.S. citizenship.

I am anxious to see the details of the President's plan and to
carefully examine any legislation to evaluate its impact on North
Carolina. A job for every American who is willing to work must
come first, and North Carolina's economy is still hurting.
However, I think most North Carolinians would agree that our
immigration system is broken. The application process is long,
complex and costly, and our government does not adequately
enforce the laws that are already on the books. I am committed to
exploring all plans, including the President's, to reform the
immigration system and ensure fairness and justice for American
citizens as well as immigrants. You may be pleased to know that
last year I voted in favor of the 9/11 Recommendations
Implementation Act, which authorized an additional 10,000 border
patrol agents and 4,000 additional Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) officers. Unfortunately, President Bush has
proposed funding for only 210 additional border agents and 80 ICE
officers in his Fiscal Year 2006 budget request. Although I do not
serve on the committee of jurisdiction regarding this issue, you can
be sure that I will bear in mind the views you have expressed to me
as the House considers immigration reform legislation in the 109th
Congress.

I am working with our national leaders to support policies
that will defend our values, protect our children and our families,
put our people back to work and get our economy back on track. I
look forward to your continued input on these and other issues as I
do so.


Sincerely,

Bob Etheridge
Member of Congress

P.S. You may sign up for my email newsletter at
www.house.gov/etheridge.

Can anybody deciper this political doubletalk?

This is supposedly my congressional rep too. I've contacted him a number of times on illegal immigration issues by way of phone and fax through NumbersUSA. I have not yet received a response from him. Perhaps mine is in the mail I don't know what to make of his response to you here but I do remember seeing his voting record on these issues and he doesn't appear to be a pal of those who support immigration reform and secured borders - actually just the opposite. I do remember during the CAFTA vote Etheridge voted against (I contacted him and did receive a response). This is the way of Democrats it seems - most vote against free trade agreements but many vote in favor of the open border's lobby agendas. I used to be a Democrat, now I'm just disgusted and Independent. The Republicans are not always much better either, often flip flopping on issues that are inter-related. There are exceptions such as Tancredo - I'd vote for him if he ran for President.

had-enuf, I'd say don't fall for it. He's using the old lines, "broken immigration system", and blah blah blah. Besides, I think Clay Shaw of Florida wrote that for him....sounds too familiar !!

Send it back and ask him to answer a few of your questions directly.
Give him three or four straight forward questions and tell him you need some straight forward answers.

Yea, sounds like a ploy to get you to believe that the immigration system is broken when in fact its not--its just not being enforced..just like Social Security..there are those who would like you to believe that its broken too when in fact it is not.

I was getting ready to say it sounded just like those form letters I've gotten from Dole and Burr!! They must be so broke that ALL of the representatives from North Carolina have to share ONE LETTER WRITER!!

noillegalimmigrationannie--I'm with you on the disgust with both parties. I have always been an Independent because I think they just LOVE to fight over who gets our votes!! Besides, I feel that anyone who votes a straight party-line ticket is just not THINKING. I always vote for the PERSON, not the PARTY. But, your assessment of both parties just reinforces my belief that the time has come for a third party that was MODERATE and RESPONSIBLE and that they would have a real good chance to win elections. I just don't think the members of ALIPAC are the only ones who are just completely fed up with BOTH PARTIES.

I, too, write constantly to my reps. They are Congressman Sylvestre Reyes (who was on the Border Patrol for more than 20 years and still can't see that we shouldn't give amnesty to the lawbreakers or pass out zillions of green cards while Americans walk the streets looking for jobs), Senator John Cornyn, who loves the amnesty idea for some reason, and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who flip flops from one end of the board to the other but is mostly for amnesty.

Cornyn is apparently too good to communicate with anyone who doesn't kiss his butt. Hutchison will reply once in awhile trying to defend herself, such as why she thinks CAFTA is so wonderful. Reyes, although I vehemently disagree with some of his views on immigration never fails to communicate. He often gives sketchy "political" answers such as the one you got from Ethridge.

But at least it is a start. Keep writing to your reps and encourage others to do the same. They don't know what we have on our minds if we don't tell them.

Since I live in a border town, I am far and away outnumbered by people who either are illegal immigrants or related to some so it is a diffucult struggle here to say the least. therefore, I have been known to put in my two cents worth to the reps in the areas of the US that aren't already over run by illegals in hopes that they will open their eyes before it is too late.

I REALLY feel for you JuniusJnr. AND, WE think WE have it rough. I know your life must be MISERABLE right on the border and it sounds like you're about in the same shape we, in North Carolina, are as far as representatives! We are "BLESSED" with Dole and Burr and both of them are sell-outs. We DO have a good Congressman--Howard Coble--but I'm not sure if he will be as tough as we would like on the borders. I feel sorry for you with Cornyn AND Hutchinson. I saw Cornyn on some talk show last week and he is an IDIOT. Hutchinson isn't much better. But, Cornyn sure likes that amnesty idea so we can write him off.

Bootsie, Cornyn started talking that junk about amnesty just long enough before the elections to where I changed my vote and voted against him. I don't know that the other guy would have done any different if he'd won but at least he didn't stand up and say he was going to sell us out to the Mexicans. I guess the people down here feel like they need those Mexican votes, legal and illegal, so they have to play the game. It really sucks though and I can't wait to get home to NC permanently where I can at least not be outnumbered by people who speak Spanish. They say the population here is 78% Hispanic. I think it's closer to 90%. You can't go into any neighborhood and not see Mexican license plates. Some are workers in people's houses, some are contractors and such and some live right here and keep their Mexican license plates. It is truly disgusting.

Well, you had better HURRY UP, Junius, or you will be outnumbered in NORTH CAROLINA TOO!!! Don't drag your feet too long because, believe me, it's getting BAD here! Just joking--I KNOW it couldn't POSSIBLY be as bad as a BORDER COUNTY but it sure FEELS like it.

Bootsie, I hear that. I was home part of the summer and I was really shocked to see what was going on. See, what happens is the coyotes sneak them across the border to TX, AZ or NM then they hole up in hotel rooms until they can find an unscrupulous trucker or some such person to bring them east. I think that with NC having put the kibosh on them getting drivers licenses there, it should at least stop the numbers from increasing so rapidly. At least I HOPE so.

There have been incidents here where they found dozens of illegals who were abandoned by their coyotes and starving in hotel rooms. Most of that news surfaced during the MinuteMan project on the AZ border. They don't talk about it much now and put it on the local news like they did but they still catch plenty of them. The part that scares me is: HOW MANY DON'T THEY CATCH?