Rep. Sanchez Calls Border Wall a ‘Political Ploy’

CALDWELL — The recent vote by Congress to build a 700-mile wall along the border with Mexico was nothing more than a cynical political ploy, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez said Tuesday.

Sanchez, who represents California’s 47th District, was in Idaho Tuesday campaigning for Democrat Larry Grant in Idaho’s 1st District.

This 700-mile wall will never be built,” Sanchez said at a news conference at Grant’s campaign headquarters in Caldwell.

They (Congress) didn’t put any money in it. It was a ploy, nothing more than a political ploy” to appease voters back home and make them look like they’d done something on the immigration issue, Sanchez said.

Sanchez endorsed Grant’s proposal to establish a guest worker program.

We need to set up a program that works so people can come, work, and go back home,” said Sanchez.

Americans should get the jobs first. It should happen that way, and then the guest workers get the jobs that are left over. We need good oversight, good working conditions for them, and then they can go home when they’re done,” Sanchez said, calling it “an orderly process, a solution that works for everyone.”

Sanchez said illegal immigrants are attracted to the jobs in the U.S. “It’s jobs, it’s employment that is driving this. We need workers. How many of the crops here aren’t going to be picked because there aren’t enough workers?” she asked.

Sanchez said the bill approving the wall ignores environmental regulations, private property rights and a host of other realities, including its length.

A 700-mile wall on a 2,000-mile border? Who did that math? The same Republicans that are doing the budget?” she suggested. “We need a program. We need to have a better plan but a better plan is not to build a wall. A wall just tempts people to go over it.”

Sanchez said the divide in Congress between the parties over immigration is not as large as portrayed in the news media.

There’s no grand divide in Washington, DC, on immigration,” Sanchez said. “It’s not so wide. There are just a few people there who hate everybody. They don’t like anybody. They want it (immigration) to stop, to say no more at all.”

Sanchez called for “new blood” in the nation’s capital.

We need a solution, we need a program, and we need Larry Grant in the House of Representatives,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez urged the acceptance of Hispanic citizens and culture in the U.S.

The Hispanic community is growing. In a few years, one out of every four persons here will be Hispanic in some way,” Sanchez said. “Hispanic is a culture, not a race. It’s a culture that believes in family values and the community.

Hispanics have fought in every war for their country. We’re there, today, in Iraq. We’re fighting for this country, for its values. It’s our country, too,” Sanchez said

As for the Hispanic community already in the country, Sanchez urged people to “just embrace it,” joking that “salsa has become the number one condiment in the United States. You don’t want to go back to putting ketchup on your eggs. So embrace it, don’t be afraid of it.”

Sanchez also said the Hispanic community has a responsibility to show leadership “because sometimes this country is lost and today it may be more lost than at any time in my lifetime. We need leadership and the Hispanic community must step up to that.”

Sanchez is the second of three Western Democratic leaders campaigning for Grant this week. Rep. Sanchez represents California’s 47th District, including the cities of Anaheim, Garden Grove, and Santa Ana in Orange County. She was elected in 1997 and serves on the house Armed Services Committee and Homeland Security Committee.

Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer was in Boise Monday, Oct. 23, to campaign for Grant. Blumenauer represents Oregon’s Third District in the Portland area.

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer is in town today (Wednesday, Oct. 25) to campaign with gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brady and Grant. A native Montanan, Gov. Schweitzer was elected the first Democratic governor of Montana since 1988 when he was elected in 2004. He is a successful farmer and rancher in Montana and operated agricultural businesses and irrigation operations on five continents.

And, Rep. Norm Dicks, a 15-term congressman from the Seattle area, came to Boise Oct. 8 for a Grant rally.