401. KFTC's Voter Guide

In an entry on October 23, 2007, after receiving my Kentuckians For The Commonwealth Voter Guide, I commented on some specific answers given by a Republican candidate in last fall's election, naming that entry "Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due." This year's guide offers yet another opportunity for me to mention a Republican whose views on immigration I find enlightened and appropriate.

As I said last year, as a member of the governing body of the Kentucky Democratic Party, I have an obligation to vote for and help elect Democrats throughout the commonwealth. The Sixth Congressional District, which at one time began just a few miles east of Louisville at the Shelby County line, but now doesn't do so until just past the 48 Mile Marker on Interstate 64 upon entry into Franklin County, pits the incumbent Democratic Congressman Albert Benjamin "Ben" Chandler III against Republican Jon Larson, who, quite frankly, I did not know was running until receipt of my KFTC Voter Guide.

To be honest, Ben has suddenly grown more Democratic this year, endearing him to a wider swath of voters than may have been enchanted by him back in 2003 when he was a candidate for governor. This is most noted in his early endorsement of United States Senator Barack Obama in the Democratic Primary earlier in the year. Ben's Republican opponent has the proverbial snowball's chance in Hell of being elected. That gives Ben the freedom to make endorsements like Barack Obama and Mr. Larson the freedom to part with his Party on issues like immigration.

The following is the KFTC's question and candidate Larson's answer on the subject of immigration.

KFTC: Undocumented immigrants are a growing part of Kentucky’s workforce, culture, and communities as they are for many states across the US. This has caused friction in many areas. Some Kentuckians think that undocumented workers are problematic because they take jobs and government services needed by citizens. Other Kentuckians say that immigrant communities make substantial positive contributions to our state and that their needs are just as important as citizens’ needs – and furthermore our economy couldn’t function without them. What is your stance on immigration and undocumented workers?

MR. LARSON: Too many Republican politicians have publicized impractical anti-“illegal” immigrant proposals. In contrast, I want to express a few common-sense reasons why our government should offer amnesty (non-quota, non-“touchback” paths to citizenship, with immediate issuance of easily renewable federal identification cards). As a true conservative, an anti-bureaucrat, valuing financial welfare for other Americans, I must state the obvious: There is no realistic way to detain and deport more than seven million undocumented Hispanic workers and their dependents.

Our immigration laws are like a discouraging maze, fostered by years of racial (“Chinese exclusion”) and anti-Southern and Easter European, anti-Irishmen, and lately anti-Hispanic prejudices. America is the “Land of Immigrants,” but we have allowed the tired, hungry and poor of the world to become disappointed by our bureaucratic roadblocks. Historically, Liberty (Ellis) Island did not send immigrants back to their birth countries to wait 5-14 years, to be solicited to pay bribes, just so they could legally re-enter our “Home of the Free.” We should never be afraid to welcome fresh blood into our National melting pot.

Please understand that the negative publicity unreasonably frightens immigrants and irritates our American-born Hispanic citizens, discouraging border cooperation. Many hard working and admirably productive undocumented immigrants have been financially victimized, some raped (and more than 450 have dies, some horrifically) along our Southern border. These same individuals, still fearing deportation, cannot obtain basic identification documents, to their disadvantage and our ultimate loss (of insurance and safety protections).

Turn these people into 100% tax payers who can use their ID’s to bank, cash checks, shop and purchase medical and automobile insurance.

*****

Let me add that I concur with Mr. Larson's response.