The below letter was made public yesterday. We congratulate and thank state Representitive Ed Lindsey for his educated courage.

An Open Letter to Senators Chambliss and Isakson — Oppose the Proposed Immigration Bill in the Senate

Dear Senators Chambliss and Isakson:

I urge you to vote “no” on the proposed immigration bill currently being considered in the United States Senate.

I was a co-sponsor of Georgia’s tough anti-illegal immigration bill (HB 87), and as Georgia House Majority Whip worked hard for its successful passage in 2011. With this experience, I recognize numerous flaws with the new federal proposal, but the four most prominent in my mind are as follows:

1.The start of real conservative reform on immigration is very simple — Secure the Border!The remedies offered in the proposed bill are inadequate to assure that our borders will be truly sealed and protected from unlawful entry. Amendments offered in the Senate Judiciary Committee to provide for such security were regrettably voted down. No nation can long survive and guarantee the safety of its people without properly regulating who enters its territory. Therefore, without accomplishing this, there is no basis to move forward on other related issues;

2.We should oppose a pathway to citizenship for anyone who willingly and knowingly comes into our country illegally. Amnesty is contrary to the rule of law, fundamentally unfair to those who play by the rules and wait to immigrate legally, and will only encourage more illegal immigration. We tried amnesty in 1986 to fix the concern at that time when we had fewer than an estimated 3 million illegal immigrants eligible. The result? Today we have over 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States and Georgia now ranks 6th in the nation in the number of illegal immigrants;

3.We have seen no cost estimate on how great a financial burden this bill will place on the State of Georgia and local governments in terms of the increased burden on state and local services. Even Los Angeles County officials in California are expressing concern over additional burdens being placed on its local services as a result of the proposed new law. In Georgia, we do not have a printing press to print money and our state and local governments are required to balance our budgets. Therefore, additional burdens on public health care, our education system, and other state and local services will only aggravate already precarious budget issues in our state; and

4.Immigration problems are in reality a series of very different, complex, and difficult issues which require more than simply voting up or down on someone else’s pre-packaged formula. After several years in state legislative leadership, I have grown increasingly skeptical of so called “comprehensive” solutions that in reality lump very different issues together into one hodgepodge bill. Border security, illegal entry, migrant farm workers, student visa applications, foreign high tech specialists’ work visas, and other immigration issues each carry their own intricate and complex challenges and concerns, and each should be addressed individually according to the best interest of our American society.

In conclusion, I respectfully ask that you vote against this proposed immigration bill as it is not in the best interest of the people of Georgia. We need to stand firm on border security and then roll up our sleeves and tackle the remaining issues one step and one issue at a time according to our long term national interests. That is how things should be done.

State Representative Edward Lindsey
Georgia House Majority Whip &
Conservative for Congress