Issue Position: Immigration

Issue Position

Immigrants built our great nation and its image around the world as a land of opportunity. Illegal immigration, however, undermines our immigration laws that have for too long gone unenforced. The social and economic impact of illegal immigration for both the states and federal government is substantial, as it affects the criminal justice system and social welfare benefits.

To help stop the bleeding, I support building a fence along portions of our southern border. I believe English should be the official language of the United States as a way to help strengthen the notion that language and citizenship are integral parts of our great country. I also support the plight of states like Arizona who have taken it upon themselves to enforce federal immigration laws given the federal government's failure to do so.

I do not support amnesty for illegal aliens. We do, however, need foreign workers in Wyoming, where our tourism and agricultural communities rely on seasonal guest workers when there are no Americans to take the job. But our H2A and H2B visa programs are broken and do not adequately respond to market conditions. The result is that foreigners have every incentive to migrate illegally while those trying to play by the rules flounder in a system that is lengthy, cumbersome and expensive. To effectively fight illegal immigration, we must both crack down on illegal aliens working in the United States through tools like E-Verify and simultaneously increase the number of legal workers in America.

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