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A Reader Reports India Is Doing A Mexico

From:  [Name Withheld]

With Trent Lott stepping down, we are looking at a new Senate Majority Leader, Senator Frist from Tennessee. I am quite surprised that VDARE.COM has not commented on this guy's position on immigration. Does he support open borders? Does he support amnesty for illegals? Since he is a White House favorite, I suspect he is very supportive of open borders and amnesty. Trent Lott was a weak and spineless Senate Majority Leader. However, at one point he expressed support for placing troops on the borders. Where is Frist on all of this - and why is VDARE.COM so silent?

VDARE.COM wail: Because there are SO MANY TARGETS!!! Another reader has pointed out an alarming story from The Economics Times of India (" Migrating to U.S.? Wait For Frist," by Urmi A. Goswami, December 24, 2002.) We asked Rosemary Jenks of Numbers USA to comment. She writes:

Unfortunately, incoming Majority Leader Bill Frist has a slightly worse immigration voting record than outgoing Majority Leader Trent Lott, according to www.CongressGrades.com, the only website that grades all Members of Congress every immigration action they take. The group gives Lott a D+ for his immigration votes over his career and a B for his recent immigration votes (the previous two Congresses). Frist gets a D for all his votes and C for his recent votes. Both Senators voted for huge increases in the number of foreign high-tech workers (H-1Bs) in 1998 and 2000 and against protections for American workers; both voted for amnesty for illegal aliens from Nicaragua, Cuba, El Salvador and Guatemala; and both voted against voluntary pilot programs for employers to verify that their employees are legally permitted to work in the U.S.

The main differences between the two are:

1) Sen. Frist cosponsored a bill to grant amnesty to illegal aliens working in the agriculture industry in 2001, while Sen. Lott did not; and

2) Lott, at the very end of his tenure as Majority Leader, called for the use of military troops to secure the borders.

I would point out, however, that Lott has neither repeated his call for troops on the border not taken any action that would actually put them on the border.

Rosemary Jenks
Director of Government Relations
Numbers USA

January 11, 2003