It’s been a while since I’ve had time to write.  August was filled with traveling the third district and meeting with many of you.  I also had the opportunity to lead a congressional delegation to Asia, where I met with the leaders of some impressive emerging democracies.  I’m back in the other Washington now – Washington, D.C. – working to extend the state sales tax deduction and drafting legislation to help our small businesses. 

I wanted to take this opportunity to write about another important issue – one that many of you have emailed, written, or called me about in recent months: illegal immigration.  As you may know, last week the House voted on the Secure Fence Act.  This bill will help construct a 700 mile double-layered fence and surveillance systems along our southern border, and study the need for similar measures at critical access points along our northern border. 

I believe that every nation has a right and a responsibility to secure its borders, and I have heard from many of you who feel the same way.  That’s why I was proud to vote for the Secure Fence Act.  I think this bill is a common sense first step towards securing our nation’s borders and ending illegal immigration.  But, quite frankly, I don’t think it goes nearly far enough. 

I believe we must also find practical ways to deal with the 12-20 million illegal immigrants already here.  I have met with folks from our local timber, fishing, and agricultural industries who would be crippled without a migrant workforce.  If we rounded up every single illegal immigrant tomorrow, we would not only put many of these local companies out of business, but we would also impose a devastating blow to our national economy.  Many illegal immigrants are hardened criminals and a serious drain on our system.  They deserve to be rounded up, imprisoned, and expelled from this country.  There are also many immigrants who work hard, pay taxes, and contribute to society.  I support some sort of sensible guest worker program – one that is not amnesty and does not necessarily provide a direct path of citizenship - for these hardworking immigrants.  

I also believe we should also be doing more to enforce employment and tax laws that are already on the books.  Right now, many of these laws are not being strongly enforced.  If we get serious about cracking down on employers who break tax and employment laws, businesses will have less incentive to hire illegal immigrants and the demand for illegal workers will go down.

I want to thank all of you who took the time to write and call me about this important issue.  I believe the Secure Fence Act was an important first step to solving our nation’s illegal immigration problem, and I hope Congress will take up more comprehensive reforms that are tough, practical, and fair to taxpayers. 

Until next time,

Brian Baird