Let’s Get Serious about Immigration Reform | Cato @ Liberty

So I can't tell you how many times I've spoken with voters going door to door this past year. 

 

Most people talk about the state budget cuts, unemployment problem, or the mortgage crisis in this state; Republicans have done quite a number on our state budget over the past few years and our economy is in pretty dire straights. But I'm shocked by the small number of people that start with our economic refugee problems as their top priority for this state. 

 

Every single one of them are self identified conservatives.  The facts are--as I was told yesterday speaking with someone over in Newton County--that "the federal government isn't doing anything about people coming over the border."  That the Government doesn't care to do anything about it and "don't hear us."

 

So then I'm reading the blogs and catch this snippet over at CATO:  

Consider: The U.S. Border Patrol’s annual budget has shot up by 714 percent since 1992, from $326 million to $2.7 billion. During the same period, the number of Border Patrol agents stationed along the southwest border has grown from 3,555 to 17,415. Hundreds of miles of fencing has been constructed along the border, much of it across private property.

If this is the mark of a government “unwilling to do anything,” I would shudder at the cost and intrusion of a more concerted effort.

The bottom line is that our “enforcement only” approach to controlling the border has failed, and it will continue to fail until we create a legal alternative to illegal immigration.

Is this really the sign of a Federal Government that isn't responsive to the concern of those who are calling for more border enforcement?    

 

Keep in mind 99.9% of the doors I knocked on yesterday mentioned either Education or Jobs and didn't say anything about the "intrusiveness of the federal government" or "out of control government spending", or immigration which this voter said were the top priority of voters (even at that state level... as I specifically restated the question in terms of State Government to make sure he knew I was running for State Senate and was focused on state level issues).

 

I believe that these were his top priorities, and I believe he thinks that most voters feel the same way he does.  None of them live in the neighborhoods near where he lives.  I also just don't think its true that the Federal Government "has done nothing" on the issue of enforcement of the law. 

 

Posted via email from Jim Nichols