Fallon Speaks Out on Immigration Raid

Des Moines, Iowa – Tuesday, May 13, 2008 (1:00 PM CDT). - Congressional candidate Ed Fallon spoke out today in response to the immigration raid in Postville yesterday.

 “This sort of thing is a distraction from the serious debate we need to have on immigration reform,” Fallon said. “Raids such as this are devastating to the workers, their families, and the community at large.  They are high-profile media spectacles that do nothing to address the systemic problems of immigration.”

 "We need a bold, comprehensive approach to immigration reform,” Fallon said.  “It is naïve to think that we can effectively address the problem by with a few dramatic raids here and there.  Immigration reform invariably necessitates hard work on both sides of the border.  My staff and I have drafted a thoughtful, balanced proposal on immigration, and I invite people to read it on my website (www.fallonforcongress.com) and share their comments.”

 Fallon cited NAFTA and similar so-called free-trade agreements as a big part of the problem.  “We need development policies that reduce the incentive for people to come here illegally.  NAFTA and similar treaties have decimated the farm economy in Mexico just as surely as they have decimated the manufacturing base in our own country.  Any trade agreement without wage thresholds, worker safety standards, and strict environmental provisions should be scrapped or rewritten.”

Fallon pointed out that he and his opponent in this election, Leonard Boswell, disagree substantially on immigration.  “Boswell has not provided any leadership on this issue.  He has voted for several trade agreements that exacerbate the problem.  In 2005, he was one of only 36 House Democrats to support the Republicans’ harsh and ineffective immigration reform bill.  And two years ago, when he ran against Jeff Lamberti, he used immigrants as scapegoats in advertisements that were shameful, dehumanizing and misleading.”

“I’m focused on a truthful, candid discussion of this complex problem,” concluded Fallon.  ”We need to be honest with ourselves:   big business in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada has a stake in maintaining the status quo on immigration.  But for American workers and the poor of Latin America, the status quo is disastrous.  Yesterday’s raid further underscores that fact.”

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