Illegal immigration is perhaps one of the hottest issues in the 1st Congressional District race and has forced Rep. Wayne Gilchrest to defend why the nine-term congressman has voted in some cases for amnesty for illegals.
At a candidate forum, Gilchrest said his vote on the farm jobs bill was “oversimplified.” He added the bill “does not give a pass to anyone” but allows immigrants to be legal temporary workers, an important component of the work force for agriculture on the Eastern Shore and around the country.
“We should not be giving any rights to illegal aliens,” Gilchrest said. “They should not be giving driver?s licenses to illegal aliens.”
Gilchrest?s major opponents, Sens. Andy Harris of Baltimore County and E.J. Pipkin of Cecil County, have both sponsored bills this session to withhold a whole range of benefits to illegal aliens, including driver?s licenses and in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants.
Harris takes credit for killing the in-state tuition measure in committee last year after it had passed the House. But Pipkin points to a 2003 vote by Harris that supported similar legislation, although Harris did vote against the final version of the bill. It was eventually vetoed by Gov. Robert Ehrlich for the same reasons that Harris and Pipkin now oppose it.
“I have a very simple immigration plan,” Harris maintained in campaign literature. “Enforce the laws we have on the books and never allow amnesty! If current laws were enforced, we would not have 12 million ? an estimate created by Democrats who know the real number is closer to 20 million ? illegal immigrants in our nation.”
In generalities, all Republicans and the three Democrats in the race agree to what Gilchrest said he?s actually voted ? tougher measures to secure U.S. borders with more border control agents and the construction of effective barriers, while opposing blanket amnesty for illegal aliens.
Harris, the son of Hungarian immigrants, said he favored legal immigration but wanted to double the number of border control agents and the number of immigration agents. “They have to come here legally and agree not to come here for benefits,” Harris said. Pipkin has introduced legislation proposing a task force to study the cost to Maryland of illegal immigrants.
