Craig gets earful on immigration

CALDWELL, Idaho – U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, has sponsored legislation that would allow illegal immigrants who have worked in agriculture in the U.S. for at least three years to remain as temporary workers.

But not everyone agreed with Craig’s bill at a town hall meeting on Wednesday at Albertson College of Idaho.

“Get them out!” shouted some of the 70 people who attended the meeting.

“We may disagree on how the problem gets solved,” Craig told the crowd, “but I’m hell-bent to solve it.”

Craig talked about the war in Iraq and salmon recovery, but illegal immigration became the main topic.

Helen McClain and her sister, Wanda, attended the event wearing shirts that said “Stop Illegal Immigration.”

“I speak for millions of people,” Helen McClain said. “America is very mad.”

“I don’t disagree with your anger and frustration,” Craig told the audience.

Under the proposed legislation, illegal immigrants would be fined and have to go through a background check. The U.S. would deport convicted felons, but would issue a “blue card” for immigrants who have been in the country for three or more years.

“We need a legal, controlled immigrant work force in our nation,” Craig said.

But some people in the crowd told Craig that U.S. citizens lose jobs to undocumented workers.

“And that’s wrong,” Craig said. “That’s why we need a legal work force.”

Other concerns among crowd members were that the National Guard would not be able to stop illegal immigrants at the border, that illegal immigrants were overcrowding schools, and that the blue card program was confusing.

“Eight million illegals is proof it doesn’t work,” Craig said of the current immigration system.

But he said illegal immigration to the U.S. was being caused by a U.S. economy that provided illegal immigrants a place to find jobs.

“When somebody’s struggling to put food in their family’s mouths, you can’t build a wall high enough,” Craig said.