May 16, 2006
Tuesday

An open letter to Senator Stevens, Senator Murkowski, and Representative Young, concerning the illegal alien problem.

I want to express my opinion to you about President Bush s plan on the illegal alien problem last night.

I am very disappointed in his speech, and plan to respond, and the fact that he still is trying to include amnesty in his plan, no matter how he tries to disguise it. This is more of the same drivel that has driven his approval level to record lows, and now he is splitting the Republican party and turning his back on the wishes of the American people.

If congress goes along with this plan, it will be another disaster for the American people, who do not support ANY rewards for illegal behavior, and can easily project the results of another amnesty to an estimated 100 million immigrants in the next 20 years, having our country taken over by illegal aliens!

Many pundits are now predicting a disaster for republicans in the 2006 elections, as well as a disaster for the United States if this plan is approved!

The president is extremely out of touch on this matter, I hope you aren't. I am hoping you will take some advice from Newt Gingrich, who seems to be very in touch. Gingrich, said it would be a mistake for Bush to embrace the Senate bill. Gingrich cited a poll released last week by Zogby and the Center for Immigration Studies that showed Americans support the House bill by a margin of 65% to 30%, and has cited polling data that he said underscores the importance of an enforcement-first approach taken by the House:

84% say the U.S. should go after employers who hire illegal immigrants
86% say the U.S. should cut off cities and states that refuse to enforce the law
90% say English should be a requirement to become a citizen
85% say citizens should have a voter-identity card to make sure only Americans are voting.
Senator Stevens, I keep getting letters from you, where you assert that you need to protect Alaskan business that rely on seasonal immigrants. I am wondering what the difference is from when I worked in a cannery, just out of high school in 1966 and now? There were plenty of young AMERICANS, mostly college students to work, as they could acquire a pretty good bankroll to help them fund their education. Could the labor shortage of Americans, be similar to the meat packing industry, where a meat packer made $19 per hour in 1985, and makes $9 per hour today because these illegal aliens DEPRESS the wage to a standard that NO AMERICAN can work for?

Isn't it ironic that Alaska has a fishing fleet of mostly non-resident fishermen, canneries owned by foreign companies, and now the a large part of the workers in these canneries are citizens of a foreign country illegally here? Please tell me, just how does this benefit Alaska? If the citizens of Alaska cannot realize more of a benefit from the harvesting of our natural resource, the salmon, we would be better off to let them swim up the stream, where we could subsist on them and let the rest spawn! Why should we be giving the benefits of this resource away to foreigners?

Here are some of the things that most Americans want as the solution to this problem.

Secure the border, 5000 National Guard isn't going to do. It has been estimated it will take over 30,000 troops to secure the border. Then we will have to build a fence in some portions, as well as other methods to make the border secure over the long run! NO CATCH AND RELEASE, put them in tents like Sheriff Joe until they can be deported!

Enforce the laws we have on the books NOW! No amnesty for these illegal aliens, and NO AMNESTY for the businesses who have created this problem by profiteering and passing the costs of this invasion of illegal workers along to the American taxpayer to an estimated $70 BILLION per year! This is an outrageous cost and is increasing!

Identify and go after the employers of these illegal workers, with severe fines, and jail sentences, for breaking the law. After all, these employers of illegal workers owe the taxpayer $70 billion per year!

We also need an electronic, quick means to check the legality of workers, so there can be no excuse of accepting forged documents and false social security numbers. Social Security Administration and the IRS already know where many of these illegal workers are at, and they should have to provide that information to the INS enforcement.

No welfare, or public assistance of any kind, except emergency medical aid, to any illegal alien.

A voter identity card, where all voters have to prove their citizenship, preventing the election fraud that has been ongoing in the last decades.

The present situation, or an automatic road to amnesty and citizenship are not the only solutions for this problem. By preventing these lawbreakers from finding employment in this country, or getting on public assistance, they will go home, and we will find the problem is a lot more manageable within a year or more, and we will then have time to study and debate what the citizens of THIS country wish to do about our so called labor shortage.

I will be watching closely what Congress does to resolve this problem. I am counting on each of you to abide by the wishes of the American citizens, and not reward illegal behavior. I will predict to you, that if you do not do the right thing, you will see the Republicans lose big in the upcoming elections of 2006, and even bigger in 2008. This issue isn't going to go away or be swept under the rug, or forgotten.

Sincerely,

Byron Whitesides
Ketchikan, AK - USA

A lifelong Alaska resident

About: Byron Whitesides writes, "I am a lifelong Alaskan, born and raised in Ketchikan. I retired from the KPU Electric Division in September 2003 and have started another career in our family business."

 

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