The Pilot today had an article about how immigration is changing the face of Virginia politics:
South of the Rappahannock River, the traditional boundary between Northern Virginia and the rest of the state, immigrant populations remain small and politicians in both parties generally focus their campaigns on white and black voters.
[…]
Contrast that with Northern Virginia, where the Spanish-speaking population is close to a majority in some neighborhoods and a growing number of officeholders are creating Hispanic advisory groups and looking for ways to finesse the immigration issue.
According to the companion story, about 30,000 Hispanics live in the 2nd Congressional District, or about 5% of the total. Incumbent Republican Congresswoman Thelma Drake believes that immigration is the number one issue. Drake’s stance is that “All benefits for illegal immigrants should be eliminated, and illegal immigrants should be given an incentive to leave the country. Democratic challenger Phil Kellam doesn’t disagree, saying “Illegal means illegal.”
Like the writer of the story, I’m just not sure how big of an issue illegal immigration is in the 2nd, especially outside of the Eastern Shore. In any event, it seems that Drake and Kellam agree on this, so flip a coin 😉
Technorati Tags: Thelma Drake, Phil Kellam
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
But Drake at the last debate said that she conducted a poll which revealed that immigration was a bigger issue than even the war in Iraq. She’s running in the 2nd, right?
Um, maybe I’m dense but I thought I said that Drake believes immigration is the number one issue 🙄
Hmmmm…I think Drake WANTS immigration to be the number one issue….NOT making US safe (i.e. the ports) NOT the Iraq war…NOT healthcare and corruption with BIG Pharmaceutical….the Deficit and corruption and……fill in the blank
Buzz…Buzz….
So, Kellam says “illegal means illegal” huh?
good thing to remember!
Well, what about the issue itself? Are they right?
My sense is that there is virtually no way to round up the illegal immigrants and ship them back to where they came from. So what do we do with the ones that are here? If we cut off all benefits, will that drive up the crime rate? Is the problem the employers, who continue to employ illegal labor because it is cheaper and they have little fear of being caught & penalized by the government? If we crack down on employers, will certain industries suffer or will it force them to pay higher wages to attract American workers, and, in turn, lead to higher prices?
We can’t stop or catch all of the people from using illegal drugs, so let’s just stop the War on Drugs.
We can’t stop everybody who wants to steal, so let’s stop trying to catch those that do. If we can’t catch everybody, they we should stop trying. Immediately.
How absurd is that?
First we should secure our borders, either through a wall or another way, so that it is either impossible or very hard to come accross. Then, we should catch as many as we can and deport them. Now, are we going to catch all of them? All 12 to 15 million? Of course not! We may not even catch half. Does that mean we should just give up and keep the ones we have? No!
Illegal means illegal. They have every right to go out of the country and try to gain citizenship. But just because we can’t catch all of them does not mean we should just keep the ones that already here unscathed. If we applied that logic to any other crime – murder, stealing, vandalism, fraud – it would be silly.
On the employer question, it will lead to higher prices if we crack down on employers, but, wages will increase. Right now, those hurt the worse by illegal immigration are ones who work for the lowest wages. It also keeps wages down for workers on the next rung, because why would an employer pay people on the next rung more when they are paying the illegal aliens so cheaply.
We should crack down on employers. The higher prices argument is a false one.
On the issue of “anchor babies,” that is what is stopping politicians from advocating deportation now. If illegal, I still think they should be deported, even if they are the parents of an American citizen. Now, what is stopping them from taking their children with them? The child is an American citizen, and can come back at any time, but that doesn’t mean they could not leave with their parents if they were deported. The argument against it usually is that we would be separating parents and children, but I don’t see that happening. It would be trajic if that happened, but we do it everyday, in cases of murder, stealing, etc. Whenever someone goes to jail, they are separated from their family. Why would this crime be any different?
Sorry for my long post, Vivian. I got carried away. 🙂
Not a problem. That’s exactly what I was trying to elicit, instead of the potshots at the candidates 😉
The laws are on the books to crack down on the employers. Why it is not being done is something that our lawmakers need to figure out. My sense is that it is an unfunded mandate.
As far as the children – are you aware that Drake’s position is that they should not be granted citizenship for being born here? Are you in favor of that?
Look… I have several friends here who are retired (under age 50) and have to go back to work JUST BECAUSE THEY DON’T HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE! They can afford their mortgages and may of their other “quality of life” things,” etc but can’t afford health insurance!
They don’t care about the illegal alien issue (note issue not problem) and it won’t be an issue to them until this happens: It’s not just the dark skinned illegals who are rounded up and forcibly deported (and if you think that’s not the case I invite you to visit ANY INS detention facility!
Billions on a fence? Oh PLEASE! A surplus in city budgets? Give me a break! Drake is MAKING this an issue. Her domestic policy stance is as bad as her foreign policy issues. Oh… and Kellum better do better then “illegal is illegal” before he’ll get my support! At this point the argument is which is the lessor of 2 evils… does it matter? It’s STILL evil!
Boo Hiss on both of them!
I am not going to vote for Drake, but I agree with her view on immigration; not that it is the number one issue. I think if a woman is here illegally, then the baby she carry in her womb is also illegal. We have to go after the employers who hire them and give them stiff penalties.I agree that whatever and how it take to deport them, we should do it.