Menendez and Kean on Immigration

Bob Menendez writes, “Tom Kean Jr. takes his talking points on immigration straight from the Bush-Rove White House — just as he does on every other issue.”

That statement is patently false. Kean has espoused a number of positions counter to the President’s and a great example is his position on immigration. It is Menendez who has taken his talking points on immigration straight from the Bush white House. Here is President Bush’s position on immigration reform and here is Bob Menendez’ position. If there is a difference between the two positions, we couldn’t find one – from the calls to “securing the nation’s borders” to bringing illegal aliens “out of the shadows”.

Tom Kean has strongly disagreed with major elements of the President’s immigration reform policy and has proposed his own solutions, as can be read here. Kean believes it is in the best interests of the country “to stop the flow of illegal aliens to ensure the safety and security of our nation before we pursue further reforms to our immigration policies”.

That was not the position taken by President Bush nor Senator Menendez, as both wanted “comprehensive reform” which included a guest worker program and provisions for what amounted to amnesty for illegal aliens.

I support creating a temporary guest-worker program and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants if — among other things — they pay a fine, learn English, undergo a criminal background check and go to the back of the line.

If you thought the above was a quote from President Bush, you’d be wrong. That’s a quote from Bob Menendez, although Bush has said the same thing many times. However, while Bob Menendez may talk of securing the nation’s borders, clearly his prime motivation and interest for immigration reform is to grant amnesty, and along with it, $50 billion in federal entitlement benefits to illegal aliens.

Congress just passed a border security measure, the Secure Fence Act of 2006, by a vote in the Senate of 80 to 19. Bob Menendez voted against the bill. Eighty U.S. Senators agreed with Tom Kean on border security – 18 agreed with Bob Menendez. So on border security President Bush and Senator Menendez part ways and Tom Kean, the vast majority of the country and President Bush come to agreement.

Border security alone won’t solve our nation’s illegal immigration problem, but it will help to stem the tide of illegal border crossings. Tighter border security, coupled with actually enforcing the nation’s existing immigration laws, especially in employment, can turn this problem around.

Making the illegal, legal does not solve the problem for Americans and only temporarily reduces the illegal alien statistic. The nation tired that approach twenty years ago and here we are today with a minimum of 12 million illegal aliens, as opposed to 2 to 3 million we had when amnesty was granted the last time in 1986.

Border security and effective enforcement of existing immigration laws first, guest worker and other immigration reforms after the government proves capable of managing the system to the benefit of Americans and legal immigrants alike.

We disagreed with President Bush’s plans for immigration reform and we disagreed with those same polices when advocated by Menendez. We agree with Tom Kean on this issue and that’s one of the many reasons he has our support in becoming New Jersey’s next U.S. Senator.