Houtopia

“xenophobic” - - Well, that’s rather inflammatory, and not really true given that conservatives have said they favor legal immigration. It is as bad as when Chris Baker labels the immigrants as “criminal” illegal aliens, even though he is really technically correct.

I generally do not favor most of the positions which Senators Cornyn and Hutchinson take, but on the immigration debate, I am glad that this bill did not pass. This seems like the same type of issue as energy, which has been a “crisis” since 1973, yet no real substantive legislation has ever been passed. I don’t believe people have identified what the real problem is with this illegal immigration issue. If the problem is that we have too many illegal people here then it seems that we need to improve our border security. While the bill included some provisions for this, they seemed to me as if they were not really serious measures, or that a later Congress might just say they don’t want to fund them any more.

I would prefer that we actual passed a separate border security bill first and let some time pass to see that it actually was being implemented. This should also include some additional provisions on employers to discourage hiring of illegal laborer. If we don’t do this then in 10 or 20 years we will be back discussing this issue again as to what to do with all the additional aliens in the country.

Once we can demonstrate control of our borders, then we can deal with the aliens here. For them I would favor allowing them to obtain work permits and becomes citizens.

(I also have a problem where legisation is proposed yet a poll on CNN showed that over 50% of the people could not say if they were for it or against it because they did not even know what was in the bill. It seems like alot more national discussion is needed.)

Chris,

My writing did not mean to suggest that all conservatives are xenophobic -- rather that the vocal element responsible for killing the immigration bill often displayed open, or thinly veiled racism/xenophobia in doing so.

The bill had many problems, for folks on both sides of the immigration debate. But the system is unquestionably broken, and to claim victory as many on the right did, when nothing was done to fix that broken system seems hollow, to say the least.

The immigration issue is a difficult and complex one that deserves serious, thoughtful dialogue. The bigotry displayed by some, or the shallow, political opportunism and waffling by politicans like Cornyn has no place in the debate.

Along the Texas / Mexico border we are working to make our voices heard. The border wall is based on an ideologically driven fiction, that our borders are "broken" and we face an "invasion". Undocumented immigration and human smuggling are difficult issues to deal with, but the border wall will not solve anything. It will tear through communities, condemning homes, businesses, and agricultural lands. About 1/3 of the University of Texas at Brownsville campus will be on the Mexican side of the wall. And it will have a negligible impact on immigration. The Border Patrol regularly states that it will only slow a crosser down by 5 minutes. The Congressional Research Service determined that the walls already built in California and Arizona have had no impact on the number of undocumented immigrants residing in the U.S. For this we will pay upwards of $46 billion, again according to the CRS report. It is time to end this farce. The No Border Wall group has established a website and blog at www.notexasborderwall.com to inform the public and rally opposition. Events are being held all along the Rio Grande to demonstrate our opposition. The problem is that those who do not live along the border, and their representatives in congress, hold the keys in this case. Unless congress repeals the Secure Fence Act Texas will have hundreds of miles of Berlin-style walls. The law will not be changed if Congress is not pressured to change it. It is vital that they hear from everyone who is concerned about the wall.