Foster Letter Follow-up

I received an e-mail from Congressman Bill Foster's communications director yesterday. Basically she told me that the letter I received (qouted yesterday 7/30) was a form letter sent to all participants at the "Corner" meeting and that it was not meant to address the issue, but rather to quickly acknowledge the meeting.


She also indicated there would be a more detailed letter coming soon.


Well...it came today via e-mail and I share it with you in its entirety:


Dear Mr. Heaton:
Thank you for contacting me about illegal immigration. I am honored to represent you, and I appreciate your active participation in our legislative process. Your involvement makes democracy work better by helping me more effectively represent you and Illinois' Fourteenth District.

My position on illegal immigration is clear. I believe that we must secure our nation's borders and act to improve workplace enforcement while addressing the underlying causes of illegal immigration. The most effective step in controlling illegal immigration will involve a national worker database through which employers will quickly and reliably verify the eligibility of workers. When such a system is in place, employers will no longer have an excuse for hiring illegal immigrants.

I recently visited the U.S.-Mexico border, and while progress has been made to stem the flow of illegal immigrants, much is left to do. Indeed, rather than dealing with one aspect of our immigration crisis, it may be best to incorporate such measures into broader immigration reform that deals with all aspects of this problem: secure borders, rapid and reliable workplace enforcement, background checks, and realistic quotas-specifically for high-skilled workers-that meet the needs of our businesses and communities.

As Congress continues to address and work to alleviate the growing issues surrounding immigration, I will continue to support common-sense reforms to our immigration system that do not reward those who break the law. Should further legislation related to illegal immigration come before me in the House of Representatives for a vote, I will be sure to keep your views in mind.

Hearing from the families I serve is vital to doing my job right. Thanks again for taking the time to share your concerns and I hope you keep in touch with me on this or any other issue you feel important. To stay informed of my work, or to sign up for my electronic newsletters, please visit my Web site at http://foster.house.gov/. Please contact me if I can help you in the future.

Sincerely,
Bill Foster
MEMBER OF CONGRESS
BF/mp
(end of Foster's letter)


I am impressed with the letter but a few things are missing, or he has changed his stance.


His letter seems to focus on high-skilled worker quotas but is silent about the traditional guest worker program which (as proposed a year ago) would have opened the door to millions more unskilled workers. We need to pin that down. A few thousand additional PhDs is quite different from hundreds of thousands of high school dropouts.


Foster has also dropped the employer-paid immigrant worker fee idea. I'm not sure if that is off the table now or he simply didn't mention it.


And he did say he has no plans to reward those who broke the law.


I'm sure his letter was not intended to be an all-inclusive plan but rather a summary of his views.


We will clarify with his office if some of the more distasteful (to us) parts of his plan have been left out of the letter.

Some answers can be found at his campaign website here:
http://www.foster08.com/2007/12/uncontrolled_im.html

But we are willing to allow someone to change his mind, as long as he sticks to it after November 4th!

Once again, we would like some more details on this issue of vital importance to Elginites.

Bill Foster's response

A few weeks ago I stood in line at the Jewel to spend a few minutes with US Congressman Bill Foster. I blogged about the experience here:
http://elginlegalamericans.blogspot.com/2008/07/few-minutes-with-bill-foster.html

At the time I also invited Foster to respond to my assessment of his position. Well...a letter came in the mail from Foster. Here is the text of it in its entirety:

Dear Mr. Heaton:
Thank you very much for taking the time to attend Congress on Your Corner while I was in your neighborhood. I know you are busy, and I appreciate you taking time out of your day to speak with me.

As a Member of Congress one of my most important duties is to assist residents of the 14th Congressional District by answering any questions you may have about pending legislation or by helping with difficulties you may be experiencing with federal agencies.

My dedicated and professional staff is committed to providing you with a timely and effective response to your problems or concerns. We want to be your advocate in Illinois and in Washington, DC, and my top priority is to provide world-class constituent service to those living in the 14th Congressional District.

Thanf you again for visiting me while I was in your neighborhood. I value each conversation and appreciate your input. If you need to reach me or a member of my staff, please (630) 406-1114.

In addition, if you would like to stay updated on my activities please visit my website at http://foster.house.gov , and be sure to sign-up to receive my e-newsletter.

Thanks again.
Sincerely,
Bill Foster
MEMBER OF CONGRESS

(End of letter)

There you have it. Foster's response to the illegal alien crisis.

Like an old garden hose

Have you ever tried to repair an old garden hose? You start with a bulging weak spot and you fix that, then the next day another aneurysm develops a few feet down the line.

Well, Hiawatha Drive is giving us the same problem as that old garden hose. We’ve been watching the two junk trucks up at the 1000 block and noticed some improvement in that situation.

But for the last two days this one has been parked in front of a house on the 700 block.
What is it with Hiawatha and junk trucks? Hiawatha is such a nice street and it gets lots of traffic between Congdon and Summit. So why the “garden hose” effect where you fix one problem and a new one develops down the street? What’s the attraction?

Trucks like that (if they are even road-worthy) should be parked at your place of business, not on a residential street. Surely you have a yard in an industrial area where your office and garage are located.

Or maybe you don’t…which begs the question of taxes and business licenses and OSHA and labor laws and insurance and…. Business regulations are all part of the American Dream.

Scrap Truck Make-over

We'd be giving ourselves too much credit to think that people read this blog and take immediate action. So we'll just call this coincidence.

This photo is of the junk truck we blogged about a week ago. Note that the side panels, made of chipboard, are spray painted with the words "Scrap Metal." (Obviously not grafitti quality.)

Now this photo, taken yesterday, shows the same truck but the panels have been reversed and painted blue to match the truck.

And the other junk truck that was always parked out in front isn't around any more.

Get out the Elgin Beautification Award application.

Seriously, a little paint, a little common sense, and a little respect for the neighborhood can go a long way. Thanks to whoever did this.

A few minutes with Bill Foster

I waited in line at the Jewel on Larkin Saturday morning for a chance to share my concerns about immigration with Congressman Bill Foster.

I was impressed with his command of the subject. He talked freely about E-Verify and was planning a trip to the border soon to inspect the “virtual fence” technology. He also understands the impact of immigrants on schools, hospitals, and crime.

I began by telling him I am concerned about the unintended consequences of “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” and cited the 1965 legislation and the 1986 amnesty as two examples.

I told him I was concerned about the lack of the “rule of law”, meaning a general feeling that America is wide open to anyone who wants to come here. Illegals won’t be challenged. They get jobs. They live in crowded conditions. They drive around without insurance.

I told him that as a parent he ought to know that rewarding bad behavior is never a good idea. Legalization is rewarding bad behavior. Future pressure to immigrate from the third world will continue and be worse if we legalize another round of illegals. The 1986 Amnesty led to a significant INCREASE in illegals entering the US.

And I reminded him that the high percentage of illegal aliens in the population leads to unfair discrimination against those who came here as legal immigrants.

Then it was his turn to talk.

He explained that the fence is part of the solution, but that visa over-stayers were about 50% of the problem and the fence will do nothing about that.

He pointed to the need for worksite enforcement.

He is in favor of some sort of legalization where they pay some fees and go to “the back of the line” behind those who came here legally.

He had no answer for me when I asked WHERE that line is located. With at least 12 million illegals here now and the current rate of one million Green Cards a year, they will be waiting at least 12 years. Where will they be waiting? Will they remain here holding their current jobs? He had no answer.

He went on to explain that employers who want to hire immigrants (legal as well as illegal aliens) would be required to pay an impact fee to defray the community costs of these new arrivals. He specifically mentioned the example of a meat packing plant.

Well, my friend Dale analyzed that program and concluded that the math doesn’t work! My own input on it is that government could never get it right. Another bureaucracy to administer the worker impact fee does not appeal to me in the least.

At that point his assistant interrupted and said our time was up; he needed to get to the other people in line.

My take on Bill Foster is that he is intelligent and articulate. He has spent some time understanding this issue.

He is in favor of the fence.
He is in favor of worksite enforcement.
He is in favor of E-Verify.

But despite all that, his legalization plan and impact fees for employers leave more questions than answers. This time last year we had a Senate and the White House gung ho for legalization and they couldn’t come to terms with fees, back taxes, cut-off dates, and penalties for non-compliance.

And he didn't explain how legalization does anything to deter future generations of people who want to come here illegally.

And we didn’t even begin to discuss the issue of “reform”... as in country quotas, family unification, and a points system to qualify for immigration.

Thank you, Elgin

Note: Sometimes I can be sarcastic. This is not one of those times.

I want to thank the City of Elgin for upgrading the tunnel that connects the baseball fields on either side of Summit Street at Hiawatha Drive.

It has been an eyesore for years.

This photo shows new lighting and freshly painted walls.

I tip my hat to those responsible.

The good news...

…they’re recycling.

The bad news…
…it looks like the set of Sanford and Sons.
Hiawatha Drive in Elgin.

Actually, there is a third pick up truck in the fleet but it wasn’t there this morning. It looks about the same as the other two.

The other bad news…
…the scrap is probably being sold to China so they can manufacture the products we buy.

Crazy world, isn’t it?

Elgin Parade Report

We had a few AFLA supporters at the Elgin Fourth of July parade. We were invited by the Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration.

Frankly, we could have use many more of you. I heard from a few folks that they couldn't find us. I can understand that. We were originally assigned number 117. Then at about 8:15 someone came up and asked if we were ready to roll.

When we said, "Yes," they put is in as entry #37. We headed for the staging area and they just threw out the numbering system and put us in line right where we were.

A couple of AFLA folks walked the entire parade route before it started! They were just trying to find us.

I walked along handing out flyers with the Perez story on it. Some folks rode on the float the whole way. Others passed out flags.

Our thanks to Jay and Dane and Uncle Sam for letting us ride along with the Fox Valley group. It was good exposure for us.

We hope to see more of you at the next parade. Let's stop being the "silent majority."