Will Dick Day and Ruthie Hendrycks face the Inconvenient Truths on Immigration ?

Why is that challengers veer to wedge issues to launch their campaigns ?

Dick Day’s resume is full of a pro-business agenda that should easily make him a qualified candidate for US House, yet his immigration agenda is what the papers are reporting.

Ruthie (Ruth) Hendrycks announced her campaign, to replace Brad Finstad representing Minnesota House District 21B, with a focus on immigration. I suppose this should not be a surprise since in her 2006 campaign for Minnesota Lt. Governor, she was running to “preventing the balkanization of Minnesota.” At that time, she announced “that the lack of political experience is one of our team's biggest assets.” Well, since she did not acknowledge any “political experience” in her announcement, she might need to a little advice.

William J. Stuntz in the February 18 issue of The Weekly Standard has an article entitled The Inconvenient Truths of 2008 :” The Republican base wants the country to reacquire control over its southern border, and wants to see the millions of illegal immigrants already here expelled or punished--because anything less rewards them for their violations. The first goal is both good policy and good politics. The second is a practical impossibility and a political disaster. No American government can afford to track down and expel, fine, or otherwise penalize 12 million of its residents: 17 times the number of convicted felons who enter prison each year (and today's imprisonment rate has shattered historical records). That much law enforcement is beyond government's capacity--a fact for which conservatives, of all people, should be thankful.
Not only will the illegals themselves remain, so will generations of their offspring: a large voting bloc that will be forever barred to the party that wanted to ship their parents and grandparents back to their Central American homes. If the penalties for illegally crossing the border are more than a pittance, immigrants will simply refuse to pay them and remain underground, and no future government will spend the money needed to catch and prosecute them. Given those circumstances, amnesty is less a policy choice than a statement of political reality: the rough equivalent of bankruptcy for a debtor who, without it, will never pay another creditor another dime. To put the point differently, the size of America's Latino population means that the nation's border control problem must be solved with that population's consent.

Stuntz assessment is that no matter how passionately held the belief, reality must be considered.
Wishing doesn't make it so.

Yep, that was from The Weekly Standard ... not exactly part of the liberal media elite.

IF any candidate pushes wedge issues in lieu of the national debt, health care, foreign relations, the environment, job creation and growth, and an energy policy, they are just avoiding addressing the real issues.

For more of my thoughts on immigration, click any of these link
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Pawlenty Driving Minnesota in the wrong direction

When the political campaign season is in full swing, there will be a lot of shouting about :
Unfunded mandates,
Wasteful government spending,
Incompetence by government agencies,
And government bureaucratic intervention.

But there is no sense in waiting until Election Day as the culprit is not on November’s ballot.

Tim “Big Ideas” Pawlenty and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) are making headlines … and for all the wrong reasons.

Pawlenty has directed the Department of Public Safety to use a biometric system to determine if multiple licenses have been applied for by individuals whose facial characteristics appear similar and merit further investigation in his battle to confront illegal immigration. The Minnesota driver’s license database contains more than 11 million photos as part of individual license records.

They obviously have time on their hands, as DPS is investigating unauthorized use of the state driver’s license database by DPS employees in July and December. KARE-11 reported that a number of recognizable names were on the list of people who had been targeted … Sven Sundgaard’s name was mentioned … but I don’t know if that was serious reporting or jest … but it’s good to know that the scope includes people of Scandinavian descent.

OK, so since Pawlenty is the boss, the DPS somehow finds the resources to perform biometric analysis. What if, lo and behold, Sven Sundgaard has a Doppelganger ? DPS must send someone out to investigate. Talk about proving a false positive ! The investigator will have to go to Sven’s home and lo and behold, Sven can prove who he is … but if there is somebody that has factitiously used Sven’s image on their driver’s license, the investigator will never find him.

Is this a good use of the public’s resources ? Not according to other government officials who are concerned about the lack of resources required by Pawlenty’s executive orders.

And if state funding was tight already, Minnesota could lose $20 to $42 million in federal highway money because the DPS system of licensing commercial truck drivers violates federal regulations. Turns out that the commercial driver's license program failed to screen out drivers convicted of drunken driving and other criminal offenses. But DPS has been busy on the roads, as 3,354 impaired drivers were arrested in December alone. Each year, alcohol-related crashes account for around 200 deaths, thousands of injuries, and damages to property.

Why is Pawlenty creating more work for a Department that seems to be having plenty of challenges already ?
Judging by the photographs of the Republicans standing as Pawlenty made his announcement, it can only be for political reasons.
This is sad.
Pawlenty should be driving efforts for bi-partisan solutions … not driving wedge issues.
In 2006, the Governor proposed a number of ideas that representatives from the Sheriff's Association, the Police and Peace Officers Association, labor, business, immigrant groups, faith-based organizations, human rights advocates, and community organizations all testified against it.
What is different today ?

Dividing the state’s citizens through fear mongering, intimidation and racial profiling may excite a voting block, but based on the number of members of the US House Immigration Reform Caucus (including amongst others : J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ), John Hostettler (R-IN — the chair in the 109th Congress of the House Immigration Subcommittee), Chris Chocola (R-IN), Anne Northup (R-KY), Melissa Hart (R-PA), Charles Taylor (R-NC), Richard Pombo (R-CA) and of course, former First District Congressman Gil Gutknecht) who all lost, this would be an unwise political course.


The hope here is that like so many of Pawlenty’s other “Big Ideas”, this one quickly dies before we waste too many resources.
DPS and other state agencies have more productive tasks that need to be done. (Hint ==> Get Federal $)
The first order of business when the new legislative session starts should be to review and terminate this wasteful government directive.
Please contact your representative … sadly, mine was photographed standing behind Pawlenty, so I won’t be able to voice my opinion until November 4th.

A Christmas Carol : An Immigration Tale

For me, no Christmas celebration is complete without a viewing of Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol”. Most of us are familiar with the story, but may not know of the underlying message.

Although Dickens wrote because he needed to make money, it was a social commentary. During Dickens’ time, overt religious celebrations complete with eating and drinking were taboo since the Cromwellian Revolt and magnified by the influence of the Puritans … in fact, for some years Christmas was abolished. To these radical Protestants, the holiday was more a pagan tradition and certainly not part of Christianity. It was deemed a wasteful day off. And even in America, the U.S. Congress met on Christmas day up until the 1850s. Most people worked on Christmas and schools were in session. For Bob Cratchit to ask for a day off would be a violation of Puritan values.

But Dickens’ message was as much about greed as the plight of the poor -- a time to reflect on man’s responsibility to his fellow man. Read more here.

Dickens uses the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future to ask Scrooge to reevaluate his thinking … and so I will use these Ghosts to ask you to look at the illegal immigration question.
I think it is time to accept the fact that the Mexican-US border is now being addressed … fences are being built and additional border patrol agents are being hired link.

It’s time to ask the question, what about the people that are here now ?

The Ghost of Christmas Past
I grew up in a suburban lily-white environment of white-collar middle-class parents (albeit tipping to the upper end of middle-class.) My neighborhood was a blend of ethnic origins -- Irish, Italian, Germany, Polish, and Hungarian but my high school … how shall I phrase it --- oh, you could easily find the pepper in the salt shaker. But we all got along and most of us went to college. I had a girl friend … her parents were good people … her Dad was a crane operator and didn’t like me (or anybody else that would “date” his little girl) and her Mother was deeply religious … and a great cook. I recall going over for a “study-date” and her Mother said she would clear her books from the kitchen table. I asked her what she was studying … and she said she was studying to take the test to become a US citizen.
What?
Turns out my girlfriend’s Father was first generation American as his parents came over on the boat, and he returned to family’s homeland to see relatives where he met and married my girlfriend’s Mother. I didn’t realize it at the time, but today, her Mother would be branded an illegal alien.
The message that The Ghost of Christmas Past is telling me is that we may not realize that there are good people among us that raising their children, being active in our communities, and supporting local business growing.

The Ghost of Christmas Present
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests during the past thirteen months have resulted in hundreds of illegal immigrants being deported leaving behind families in fear and uncertainty. It is estimated that there are approximately five million US children with at least one undocumented parent. These are the innocent victims. It has been reported that one of the targets of the 12/16/06 raid, Swift & Co. lost $53 million to decreased productivity, but business will go on … only the innocent are left to face the consequences.
If you will recall Scrooge became very upset and asked the Ghost of Christmas Present to cover his robe …. Why … he sees the children and the word on the boy’s forehead is “DOOM”.
They are truly the innocent victims.


The Ghost of Christmas Future
This Ghost would ask “What would it be like if all the illegal immigrants were deported ?”.

There are so many impacts that there are too numerous to mention, so here are just a few.

We would look at small towns with shrinking property values as illegals who owned homes were forced to sell; rental properties that were empty; and increased defaults for property taxes bills. Small businesses would fold without customers. If Tom Stiehm, the mayor of Austin, is correct that there are 5-7,000 illegal immigrants in a town with a population base under 30,000, a max exodus would have severe impacts on the local economy. The result would be higher property tax bills and smaller school populations raising the questions if some schools should be closed.

We would see a military draft. (Did you know that the “surge” in Iraq required the same number of soldiers as the military current has as non-citizen soldiers. link If first-generation soldiers decide that they will follow their deported parents home, the loss of recruits will force a military draft.

We may lose the leaders of tomorrow. Fourteen CEOs of Fortune 100 companies are foreign-born. Arnold Schwarzenegger became a U.S. citizen in 1983 after graduating from University of Wisconsin-Superior in 1979. Carlos Gutierrez, Bush’s Commerce Secretary is an immigrant from Cuba. Mel Martinez, Republican Senator from Florida, left Cuba when he was 15. Zalmay Khalilzad, America’s UN Ambassador was born in Afghanistan. Henry Kissinger grew up in Germany and then immigrated to America. These may be legal immigrants, but if America adopts a nativist policy, why will they want to come where they are not wanted. Even families could be affected -- Jeb Bush’s wife, Columba, is an immigrant from Mexico. We may not agree with all the policies that these people advocate … just as some may not agree with practices performed by Alberto Gonzales (who never explained how his parents arrived in America) or Jose Rodriquez (from Porto Rico and of the CIA tape destruction fame) … but they have made a contribution. And how about the number of doctors and scientists that come here … will they go elsewhere?



The message of the The Ghosts is simple : it’s time to move beyond fear mongering and address how we will operate as a society to legalize those that are here (if they want to stay here.) Admittedly, they have arrived illegally, but it is unfeasible to contemplate deporting all these people. The courts and detention facilities would be overwhelmed.

It’s time to reflect on man’s responsibility to his fellow man. What sort of America do we want – compassionate with laws that allow for past sins to be absolved – or a nativists promoting prejudice ?

Dick Day for Congress Campaign theme : “Smile and Wave While We Ignore the Real Problems”

Dick Day has penned an interesting commentary in the Mankato Free Press : “I’d like nothing better than for voters to speak up, to voice their toughest criticisms and their most honest frustrations without fear that they’ll be judged, silenced or ignored.”

Great … here’s my criticism … you are hiding from the REAL ISSUES by focusing on illegal immigration.

I thought you knew what the REAL ISSUES are based on the Day’s campaign website , “I want to hear what you really think about the war in Iraq and the troop surge. I want to know if you support traditional Social Security or are intrigued by new options. Where should our tax dollars be targeted? How are health care plans and school systems meeting your needs?

Please explain why you focus on illegal immigration when the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll (released the same day your commentary was published) stated that the top priorities that Congress needs to address are :
#1, The war in Iraq;
#2, Health care; and
#3. Job creation and economic growth.

Your assertion that "I understand why Congress is nervous about the illegal immigration debate — they’ve chosen not to address the problem" … is not completely factual.
It has been addressed --but not resolved -- due to the obstructionist control provided by the Senate’s filibuster procedure.
Comprehensive immigration reform was debated as part of S 1639 but when a number of Senators including Minnesota’s Norm Coleman voted NOT to allow the bill to go forward, it stopped. So blaming “Congress” is too broad of a statement … blame the Senate … and if you feel so strongly, then as I outlined previously, run for the US Senate. Further, the border fence is being built and additional border patrol agents are being hired. (Read about it here.) Lastly, President Bush has spoken passionately about this issue and made it a top priority link . Bush has promoted this issue throughout his presidency, and while the Democrats are currently being blamed, the fault lies with the obstructionists.

Your obsession with the immigration issue has successfully produced campaign publicity, however, it has more importantly been a diversion for you not to discuss the REAL ISSUES.

Voters know how current First District Congressman Tim Walz voted on every roll call vote taken, but can you tell the voters how you would have voted ?

Let’s just look at some of the BIG ISSUES.

HR 6 - Energy Independence and Security Act was signed by the President with Congressman Walz affirmative votes. Do you side with Republicans Bachmann and Kline who voted against the bill (in preliminary form Roll Call 40 and in final form Roll Call 1177 ?)

HR 2419 - Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act of 2007 (aka Farm Bill) which has been passed by the Senate and the House. 35 Republican Senators (including Coleman) voted in favor of this legislation. Does this legislation coincide with your question of "subsidies for millionaire corporate farmers".

HR 3963 - Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (aka SCHIP) 12 Republican Senators (including Coleman) voted in favor of this legislation while House members Bachmann and Kline voted against the bill. Bush vetoed the legislation. The underlying question is at what level of poverty should this program be capped? Bush limits it to 200 % above the poverty line, but some states – which may have more poverty than the national average – want it higher. For example, the Republican-controlled legislature in Ohio approved legislation for a 300% cap.
It is important for voters to know your opinion and not just assume that you would be against this based on your vote in the Minnesota legislature this past session [SF2171] and against expansion of Minnesota Care in 2005 [SF2278].

HR 3648 - Mortgage Debt Relief Forgiveness Act of 2007 was signed by the President. Do you side with Republican Bachmann who voted against the legislation or the 165 other Republicans who supported this bill ?
In some ways, this legislation is a death knell for the FAIR Tax (or FLAT Tax) agenda as it raises the value of the home mortgage deduction thus eliminating any chance of Income Tax Reform.

HR 3996 - Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2007 (known largely for side-stepping the Alternative Minimum Tax [ATM] question). Initially, the legislation provided for fair tax assessment for Hedge Fund Managers and Corporate Executive Deferred Compensation which was opposed by the Republicans (Bachmann, Kline, Ramstad, and Coleman) but once that provision was withdrawn it was approved over the exception of Democrats McCollum, Peterson and Walz.
If you are concerned about Social Security funding implications, the ATM question is more pressing as the Republicans in Congress for the past six years have extend the problem out one year at a time without addressing the long term impacts. And it will have to be addressed again as the president's five-year budget plan would permit the number of AMT taxpayers to explode again in 2008. This problem is a true example of your comment - “We deserve better than status quo politics — today’s “Smile and Wave While We Ignore the Real Problems” brand of government that ignores any issue that can’t be solved in a sound bite.” Since McCollum, Peterson and Walz wanted to balance the ATM tax cuts with equitable tax revenue generation, I would state that they are not ignoring the problem.

HR 3074 - Departments of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies Appropriations for FY 2008 which Coleman and Ramstad approved but Bachmann and Kline voted against . This bill will approve projects that directly impact the First District (which may meet your question of pork barrel projects), but also prohibits the use of federal funds to implement the Administration's cross-border pilot program to allow Mexican-domiciled trucks into the U.S.


Obviously, the first session of the 110th Congress addressed many other issues, but these are just some of the key issues that relate to the questions that your website implied that you wanted to discuss - how tax dollars should be spent.

The voters in the First District need to know if Dick Day is a Michelle Bachmann, Norm Coleman, John Kline or Jim Ramstad –type Republican. Since you are concerned about “massive social service programs, subsidies for millionaire corporate farmers, pork barrel projects, and schooling, health care”, these pieces of legislation should tell us how you really feel.

From these issues, voters can decide … Will Dick Day be part of the Solution or part of the Obstruction ?

After all, we certainly don’t want a “Smile and Wave While We Ignore the Real Problems” Congressman.

Does Dick Day think the Surge is working ?

How should a politician respond when the President of the United States announces Operation Jump Start requesting National Guardsmen to report for duty?
And how should a politician react when the operational commanders announce that the success is now being achieved?

The primary mission of Operation Jump Start is to assist U.S. Border Patrol in preventing illegal border crossings and searching for illegal immigrants crossing the border. 6,000 National Guard Soldiers and Airmen (including some from Minnesota) have been deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border.

And the results are encouraging.
On Friday, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said : “First of all, if you look back on fiscal year 2007, apprehensions at the border were down a little over 20 percent for the fiscal year, which combined with other indicators, strongly demonstrates to us that we are seeing fewer people that are attempting to cross.
One of the metrics, by the way, that kind of suggests we are having an impact on illegal migration is that apparently remittances are down. Remittances, as you know, are the payments that people send back to their home country. And at least some people interpret that as a sign that people are either going back on their own or they're at least prepared to go back and therefore they're beginning to bank more of their money.
We are on pace to double the size of the Border Patrol. We're at about 15,000 or will be at the end of this year, end of the month. And we have also dramatically ramped up interior enforcement efforts. …”
U. S. Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar said “For the first time, we’re getting ahead of the criminal organizations” (which would include drug smugglers and illegal immigration rings.) Aguilar also said the number of Border Patrol agents will rise to 18,300 at the end of next year.

That sounds like good news … but not if you are a politician who is mounting an election campaign on a Strong Borders, Strong Future theme.

One of the things that military generals have been accused of throughout history has been the tendency to 'fight the last war' assuming that the wars of the future would look much like those of the past. Unfortunately, history suggests there is some truth in that accusation.

And politicians fall into the same trap -- running the next election based on the past.

The Republicans fell for the Tancredo Trap and suffered badly in 2006 elections. Immigration is a decisive issue. President Bush’s plan is a lot different than Tancredo’s. Tancredo is running to replace Bush but polls indicate that he is not getting support. Other leading candidates seem to realize that there is a broader problem that goes beyond just “walling off the border”. Rudy Giuliani can visualize a path to granting legal status to illegal workers. Mike Huckabee has voiced compassion for illegal immigrants and as governor of Arkansas offered taxpayer-financed scholarships to the children of illegal immigrants. John McCain has spoken passionately and sponsored legislation.

Why is Dick Day following Tom Tancredo and not the other leading Republicans ?

Dick Day followed an advocacy group to the Mexican border. As a State Legislator it is surprising that Day didn’t also contact some of the local governments. For example, the Eagle Pass Texas City Council passed a resolution against the border fence and is refusing to allow the federal government to build the wall on river-front city property. Eminent Domain is a big issue and Homeland Security is right in the middle of it. There are also economic concerns that impact the border communities … Day should have also contacted members of the Texas Border Coalition which is made up of elected officials from the cities of Brownsville, Del Rio, Eagle Pass, El Paso, Harlingen, Hidalgo, Laredo, McAllen, Mission, Rio Grande and Roma Texas.

Immigration is a complex issue. And any politician that can so easily be enticed by advocacy groups exhibits extreme naiveté.

Photo ops may make good campaign propaganda but anyone wanting to be a US Congressman better open his mind to all sides of the issue and not become beholden to advocacy groups … especially when the Surge is working.

VOTE 60 : Why is Dick Day running for the House of Representatives ?

State Senator Dick Day of Owatonna wants to represent the First District of Minnesota in the House of Representative and his major platform is illegal immigration.
Using the motto, Strong Borders, Strong Future; he hopes to write a bill to overhaul the entire immigration system.
Day told KEYC_TV , ''I can assure you every place that I've went in the first district eight out of ten people when I sit down and say what's your biggest concern they say illegal immigration.

Is the First District any different than the entire State of Minnesota ?
Is this a problem that Dick Day can best resolve as a member of the 435 member House of Representatives ?
If Dick Day really wants to resolve this issue, he needs to be in the US Senate.

President Bush supported the Senate's "comprehensive" approach to immigration reform which was passed in May 2006 with the support of Republican Senator Norm Coleman's vote.
The comprehensive immigration reform would have strengthened border security, but would also create a program permitting illegal immigrants who had resided in the United States for five years or more to "earn" their citizenship after paying a fine and back taxes, learning English and holding a job for six years. It also would allow illegal immigrants who have resided in the United States from two to five years to apply for a guest worker program.

Previously, in December 2005, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Reform Act of 2005 (H.R. 4437).
Actually, the immigration issue has been a major issue in the House since the establishment of Immigration Reform Caucus in May 1999.

The differences were so significant that the House and Senate were never resolved during the 109th Congress.

During the 110th Congress, the Senate has tried to address the issue with a compromise bill offered by Senators Kyl (R) and Kennedy (D) but that failed to be brought up for a final vote. This failure caused Morton Kondracke to name some Senators - including Republican Norm Coleman - the "cowardice caucus" for having voted "yes" in 2006 and "no" this year. This was not a vote For or Against the legislation … it was just a vote to whether to debate the issue … hence “cowards”.

Obviously, Norm Coleman and the Senate is where the problem lies. Day would have a greater impact on this issue in the Senate … especially since the issue has seen a number of proponents of strict immigration reform will not be in the House in 2009. The Immigration Reform Caucus will be losing its founding member – Tom Tancredo – plus other prominent members who have announced they will not be up for election including Barbara Cubin(R-WY), Terry Everett(R-AL), Duncan Hunter(R-CA), Chip Pickering(R-MS), and Rick Renzo(R-AZ). Now, I know that there is no guarantee that the people who take those seats won’t have the same passion as Day, but in the 2006 election Immigration Reform Caucus members J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ), John Hostettler (R-IN — the chair in the 109th Congress of the House Immigration Subcommittee), Chris Chocola (R-IN), Anne Northup (R-KY), Melissa Hart (R-PA), Charles Taylor (R-NC), Richard Pombo (R-CA) and of course, former First District Congressman Gil Gutknecht all lost. The Minuteman successfully got Randy Graf on the Republican ballot to replace retiring Representative Jim Kolbe … Graf lost. Conversely, there was strong support against Republican Chris Cannon since he opposed strict immigration laws but Cannon successfully beat a fellow Republican in the primary and a Democrat in the November election.

Politically, I see immigration as a decisive issue that is ripping the Republican Party apart. But if Day feels that passionately it about it (and 8 or 10 people tell him so) then he needs to challenge Norm Coleman in the Republican primary.

The US Senate Straw Poll is February 5th so if you are part of the "8 out of 10" remember the name, Dick Day !

FYI – The VOTE 60 in the title of this commentary refers to my effort to promote the importance of the US Senate races in 2008. VOTE 60 will be the headline of future commentaries and you can read about it here.

Top Issue in MN First District : Immigration ? ? ?

They’re at it again !

The Star-Tribune continues to lead its online Politically Connected section with Mark Brunswick’s article Illegal immigration emerges as key issue in First District race : At the behest of an advocacy group, Republican candidate Dick Day went to the U.S.-Mexican border, and others may follow.

Let’s address the Star-Tribune first and then the immigration issue.

As an online media source, readers want to read current news. I believe this story was first released on November 28 … yet here it is at the top of the page as with notation that it was updated on December 4th. So what was the update?

Bluestem Prairie has done some amazing reporting on Day’s trip long before the Strib and has done thorough follow-up questioning some aspects of the Brunswick’s story.

The Strib should provide its readers with an explanation of what the update is.
Was it to correct an error in reporting … readers might like to know what was misstated. Was it to add information … that is common and readers might want to just read that part … if it was a major change, should it have been a follow-up / reaction story. Or was it to recycle the story to generate more attention to the issue and the Republican candidates?

Now to the issue itself.
First off, who says this is a top issue ? ”At the behest of an advocacy group”, tells me that it was not First District residents.
But this is an issue that Day has been pushing for awhile. On September 5th, Day told KEYC-TV ''I can assure you every place that I've went in the first district eight out of ten people when I sit down and say what's your biggest concern they say illegal immigration.”
WOW … 8 out of 10 !
Funny that makes the First District out of step with the rest of the country … and even Republicans. Fifty-two percent of Americans say the economy and health care are most important to them in choosing a president, compared with 34% who cite terrorism and social and moral issues, according yesterday’s Wall Street Journal . In a WSJ September 2007 survey of Republican voters, the question was asked : President Bush has proposed to allow foreigners who have jobs but are staying illegally in the United States to apply for legal, temporary-worker status. 30 % percent of the respondents strongly opposed that position (down slightly from the 32 % in March 2006) while 37% were somewhat favorable to Bush’s position (up from 32 %).
This is not an issue that even Republican can agree what the solution should be ! And does Day have a solution ?

Ask yourself these few questions.
During the past year have you meet an illegal immigrant and did they cause you any problem?
During the past year have you visited a doctor?
During the past year have you seen an increase in your health insurance expense?
Does the cost of gasoline and reduction in home values concern you?

I suspect that most First District residents would agree that health care and the economy are a greater concern than illegal immigration.
On a personal note, the monthly premium for my health insurance has increased $154.50 in one year (or $1854 in total) … and my spouse and I are in excellent health.
Health care should be the number 1 issue.
And before someone blames the rising health care costs on undocumented aliens, the University of California's School of Public Health researchers issued a study that determined “illegal Mexican immigrants had 1.6 fewer visits to doctors over the course of a year than people born in the country to Mexican immigrants. Other undocumented Latinos had 2.1 fewer physician visits than their U.S.-born counterparts.
link

It is disappointing that Dick Day and his fellow Republicans candidates are listening to advocacy groups and not the people that they wish to represent. It’s also disappointing that the media becomes part of the publicity machine changing focus from issues that truly need attention.