August 10, 2006

RI Senate '06

Laffey-Chafee I: Illegal immigration.

Carroll Andrew Morse

Senator Lincoln Chafee and Mayor Steve Laffey, the Republican candidates for U.S. Senate, debated on today’s Arlene Violet Show on WHJJ-AM radio. Here are the notes I jotted down as they were debating...

Arlene Violet opens the debate with illegal immigration. Should illegal immigrants be deported?
Senator Lincoln Chafee expresses support for “the John McCain bill” including the Martinez-Hagel provisions that include deportation for immigrants who have been less 2 years.
Mayor Steve Laffey expresses opposition to the “McCain-Kennedy” bill and wants to secure the border first.

Violet asks about tougher enforcement of immigration laws.
Chafee first criticizes Laffey’s history with consular ID cards issue. Chafee then criticizes the House’s enforcement-only approach to immigration, saying that not one member of the Senate will support the House bill, nor will he.
Laffey defends the consular cards, saying they made for a more secure Cranston. Securing border and enforcing immigration laws needs to be done before anything else.

Violet asks about American practices, like subsidized agribusiness, that create conditions in other countries that encourage illegal immigration.
Chafee first criticizes Laffey for not being consistent on the immigration issue, then says free trade is the best way to address the root causes of illegal immigration.
Laffey says that once borders are secure and laws are being enforced, we can work with Mexico to get them to make necessary changes and implement a guest worker program if it's needed.

6:25 PM
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It sounds like tweedledum vs tweedledum.

If they have a call-in, perhaps someone could ask Chafee why he supports bringing in the estimated 60 million legal immigrants over 20 years that McCain/Bush/Fox/Kennedy will, together with untold millions of illegal aliens.

And, someone could do some research into just how aggressively Mexico pushes their ID card, and ask Laffey whether he helped a foreign country push their agenda inside the U.S. For instance, some localities have allowed Mexico to use city property to pass out the cards; Mexican consuls have admitted that they give them to their citizens regardless of their imm. status in the U.S. And, there's the whole issue of corruption: the cards allow banks to make money off illegal immigration, and those banks then donate to politicians.

Have Chafee or Laffey received any money from banks or remittance companies that profit from illegal immigration?

Posted by: IllegalImmigrationIntroduction at August 10, 2006 10:46 PM