Iowa's Freshman Representative Only "Talks The Talk" On Immigration
07/22/2008
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Since the May 12 ICE raid at the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville, Iowa, Rep. Bruce Braley (D-1st) has been very busy voicing his concerns about this nation's laughable immigration policy and workers safety.

In his initial response to the raid that netted about 400 workers, Braley said:

”If people have broken the law, there should be consequences. There’s a legal system in place to determine those consequences, and justice should be fairly imposed with due process. "

Yesssssss!

Braley continues:

”I’ll be interested to see if federal authorities will be bringing any charges against the employer. We know that the Swift Company never faced any charges after the raid in Marshalltown, and the enforcement of immigration violations against corporations has plummeted during the Bush administration. Until we enforce our immigration laws equally against both employers and employees who break the law, we will continue to have a problem with immigration.” (Italics mine.)

Way to go, congressman!

But if Braley is so gung-ho about strictly enforcing our immigration laws, why doesn't it show up on his voting record provided by Americans for Better Immigration? (OK, so Braley hasn't been around long enough to produce a complete picture of where he stands on the issue, but take a look at his grade on "interior enforcement.")

Uh-oh. Maybe that explains why he hasn't joined many of his House colleagues in cosponsoring the SAVE Act (H.R. 4088) that has at its center mandatory workplace verification.

Two calls to Todd Wolf, Braley's legislative aide, asking why his boss wouldn't support legislation dealing with the problems he says he's concerned about, were not returned. I guess there's a message here, and I'm thinking it means that Braley is not yet ready to hang out with those who put their money where their mouths are. That usually happens when politicians, you know, don't want to turn off the corporate donations spigot and risk offending any number of "immigrant rights" organizations.

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