Thank you for writing me in response to my concerns about
border security.
I need to respond to what you wrote. This issue is too important to keep leaving
it unresolved.
In 1986, Democrats promised President Reagan that they would
approve a wall in exchange for amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants. Fifty years later, illegal immigration has
only worsened with no end in sight.
There is talk in conservative circles that Democrats really
don’t want to solve it, because they know that first generation immigrants overwhelmingly
vote Democratic, and Democrats don’t try very hard to prevent or stop illegal
immigrants from voting. But that’s
another issue.
The second paragraph of your letter spoke of “a series of
dangerous and misguided executive orders” including one about “the immediate
planning and construction of a wall along the entirety of the U.S. southern
border with Mexico.”
Nothing is said about what the other dangerous and misguided
executive orders are. As for taxpayer dollars,
Democrats have not shown any real concern about spending taxpayer dollars
before. They just prefer to spend it on
programs where the money is given to people more directly. As for Mexico paying for it, the first
priority is getting the wall built. There
are many ways to recoup the money from Mexico, like charging a fee for all the
money that is sent back to Mexico every year.
As for the wall itself, you say the GAO found that DHS cannot
demonstrate the effectiveness of a wall.
Do you read the news? Several European
countries have built walls to keep out the wave of migrants flooding
Europe. They are working. Israel build a wall to keep our
terrorists. That has been
effective. How can you prove or disprove
the effectiveness of something that doesn’t exist? If it can be demonstrated that people cannot
climb over it, that should be enough.
Illegal immigration has been a problem for 60 years, and
Congress does nothing. I wrote to you
about my concerns of drugs, diseases, and criminals. You don’t want a wall, then what do you
want? “border security through
deployment of advanced technology” OK, where
is it?
And why does every bill have to be comprehensive? Why does Congress feel they have to deal with
everything in one bill? That’s one
reason nothing gets done. Too many
issues. Plus, when bills are too large,
people (lawmakers and public) can’t read them, you get things that would never
pass on their own. you don’t know what you have until the bill is passed (and
then there’s always buyer’s remorse), and you can’t even have a good debate on anything,
because there is just too much to debate.
You need to start with border security, for the simple
reason that our border is being flooded with people trying to get in, and they
know that if they do, there is a good chance they will get to stay and that they
will get government assistance (which is probably more than they can get in
their home country when working).
I already outlined in my letter why we have to seal the border:
drugs, crime, and disease. Those reasons
alone are enough to build a wall. If you
say we don’t need one, then where is the bill for the alternative?
You’re think $20B is too much money. When the President wanted to increase defense
spending by $70B, the Democrats demanded to have the same amount of money to spend
on domestic programs. They didn’t have anything
specific in mind when they said that; they just wanted the money. Twenty billion dollars is chump-change in
Washington.
The truth is that Democrats don’t care about protecting our
country from drugs, crime, and disease.
They would rather have more immigrants in our country regardless of the
cost, so they can get their votes.
You happen to be a Democrat, but I don’t want to lump you
together with what they have been doing to our country for the last 50
years.
I made the case for border security in my last letter. I really would like to see you do something
to protect us from the drugs, crime, and disease that uncontrolled immigration unnecessarily
brings into our country.
Thank you.
Larry Craig
