Email sent from Senator Graham to constituent Sheila Jackson regarding her interest in an issue that she actually has expressed little or no interest in, and her answer.

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 The following is an email I received from Sen. Lindsey Graham touting his amendments to the Immigration Bill.  Note it is addressed to Dear Friend so evidently I have mistakenly been placed on an "upset over amnesty and illegal immigration" list somewhere in his data base and I am sure he has no idea who I am.  I decided, instead of trashing the email, to answer it.  After all, he did have someone go to the trouble of adding my name to a list of friends to be informed. 

 From: Senator@lgraham.senate.gov [mailto:Senator@lgraham.senate.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 11:08 AM
To: sclib@bellsouth.net
Subject: Graham Amendment: Border Security Act 

Dear Friend:

I know from our previous communication that you are greatly concerned about immigration reform and the impact illegal immigrants are having on our nation. There is no doubt that we must get a handle on this pressing problem.

While the comprehensive approach to reforming our nation's broken immigration system failed in the Senate last month, the problems posed by illegal immigration have not gone away. There remain at least half a dozen major changes in policy we have to make as a nation to get the problems of illegal immigration under control.

I am pleased to report last week our nation took a major step forward in securing our nation's borders. We began the process of addressing our illegal immigration problem one piece at-a-time. The Senate, by a vote of 89-1, accepted an amendment I introduced to spend $3 billion on Border Security and Interior Enforcement.

Many of these provisions were contained in the Senate immigration bill as well as the Graham-Kyl-Martinez amendment which were debated last month.

My proposal -- the Graham Amendment -- provides and requires:

  The U.S. government to establish and demonstrate operational control over 100 percent of the international land and maritime borders between the U.S. and Mexico .

  Funding to construct the 700 miles of fencing required by the Secure Fence Act.

  Funding for the hiring, training, and placing on duty 23,000 Customs and Border Patrol agents.

  Permanently ends 'Catch and Release' by providing the resources necessary to detain up to 45,000 aliens per day.

  Funding for 300 miles of vehicle barriers at the border.

  Funding for 105 ground-based radar and camera towers.

  Funding for the deployment of 4 unmanned aerial vehicles at the border.

  Funding to handle the deportation of absconders and visa overstays.

In the age of terrorism, regaining operational control of our nation's borders is a national security issue of the highest order. We need more boots on the ground, more miles of fencing, better technology which acts as a force multiplier, additional detention beds, and unmanned vehicles. The Graham Amendment provides funding for these important and much-needed changes in federal policy.

'Operational control' is a military term, and I look at this effort to secure our border as a military operation. The vote on my amendment shows a seriousness and commitment to border security that our nation has lacked for some time.

But I also want to be clear, more work remains to be done to get a handle on our nation's illegal immigration problems. We still need a more robust Electronic Employee Verification System (EEVS), a visa tracking system, a merit-based immigration system, assimilation programs to ensure people learn English, a method to ensure everyone is paying taxes, a temporary guest worker program for people who want to come here, make money and return to their home country, and other changes.

The Graham Amendment on Border Security and Interior Enforcement is a solid first step on immigration reform. It also marks the beginning of what I expect will be a longer, more drawn out effort to reform our nation's immigration policies.

Thank you again for the opportunity to share this latest information with you. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this and other important issues facing our nation.

Sincerely,

Lindsey Graham

U.S. Senator

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 From: Sheila Jackson [mailto:sclib@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 10:03 PM
To: 'Senator@lgraham.senate.gov'
Subject: RE: Graham Amendment: Border Security Act Senator Graham,     Actually I am not greatly concerned about the impact illegal immigrants are having on our nation.  They are not the criminals who are stealing our democracy and launching illegal pre-emptive invasions of countries which had nothing to do with attacks on us.   An invasion that has vastly increased the strength of Al Qaeda and terrorism world-wide (THERE ARE NOT THAT MANY AL QAEDA MEMBERS IN IRAQ, HELLO!!  REGARDLESS OF THE BOGUS SCARE TACTIC OF BUSH LITERALLY EXHALING THE NAME AL QAEDA WITH EVERY BREATH IN EVERY SPEECH TO JUSTIFY HIS CONTINUED ILLEGAL OCCUPATION OF A COUNTRY THAT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH 91 UNLIKE OH, SAY SAUDI ARABIA OR PAKISTAN.)       No, a few thousand Mexican nationals repairing our roads, maintaining our lawns, cleaning our hotel rooms and our houses because they and their families will die of starvation in Mexico if they do not come here, do not overly tax my sense of outrage.  Billions, soon to be trillions, of dollars spent on an illegal invasion that has killed thousands of the cream of our youth and physically and mentally damaged thousands more and hundreds of thousands of the citizens of Iraq, the universal hatred thousands around the world feel for us now, our crumbling infrastructure, thousands of Americans without healthcare, thousands losing their homes and savings because of buyouts and mergers that result in firings of large chunks of the workforce for quick turn-around of profits, outsourcing of good jobs, excessive tax breaks for the rich at the expense of the poor, the disappearance of the middle class, growing numbers of children living in poverty and in declining health and without a decent education, increasing costs of college education.  I am incensed about a justice department with a sycophant at its head who has willingly subverted the DOJ and turned it into a slavering servant of the White House.  I am incensed over the unprecedented secrecy and non-transparency of a White House run at the whim of an arrogant and removed Vice President.  And I am somewhat disturbed that you think building fences, putting up towers and increasing border control forces  and the money so frivolously spent will stop desperately hungry people from finding a way to get to where the money is that they hope can save their family’s lives.  Do you really think sending a few thousand poor Mexican laborers back across the border is going to stop terrorism?  If you want to stop terrorism you have stop creating terrorists.  That’s the first thing.  If you use your brain you can figure out how to do that.   Sincerely,Sheila Jackson    

Submitter: Sheila Jackson

Submitters Website: www.Eklectopia.squarespace.com

Submitters Bio:
Sheila Jackson: Mother of two, grandmother of four, Air Force Veteran, two college degrees, an Associate Degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies obtained at the age of sixty five.  Anti-war, pro-peace, pro religious freedom (from and to).  Retired from a kaleidoscope of occupations, including writing a political opinion column, doing interviews, photography, articles and  a comic strip and cartoons for a couple weekly papers and one daily, some of it even for money .  Currently working as a Nursing Assistant while painting and writing for the love of it.  One unpublished sci-fi fantasy novel, several unpublished, illustrated children's books, one in the making.