Dave Gorak: Pocan hasn't helped American workers

Oct 1, 2020

Dear Editor: Mark Pocan, whose Sept. 23 opinion piece blasts what he says is the Trump administration's "disastrous record" for Wisconsinites, is a perfect example of the pot calling the kettle black.

Of particular interest is this statement by Rep. Pocan: "Trump ran for president as the guy who would make big deals to help workers." Has Pocan helped American workers? Well, no. In fact, he has worked tirelessly against them as evidenced by his sorry voting record on immigration since entering Congress in 2013. He has never — absolutely never — introduced a bill or supported legislation that would protect American workers from the flood of cheap foreign workers who depress wages and fatten the bottom lines of their employers.

While lamenting that "tens of millions" of Americans who remain unemployed, Pocan continues to champion an immigration policy that on average since 1990 brings in more than 1 million legal immigrants who compete for jobs with our most vulnerable citizens. Remember, too, that he cosponsored the House version of the 2013 Senate bill that would have doubled legal immigration and given amnesty to 11 million illegal aliens, 8 million of whom remain in their jobs in the construction, manufacturing and service industries.

Pocan's support of Joe Biden is a natural fit because the latter also sold out American workers during his nearly 50 years in Congress. It's what the "new" Democratic Party does best. Nevertheless, Mr. Pocan appears to be suggesting in his column that putting Mr. Biden in the White House will produce "big deals" for American workers. If this is the case, then he should use the time-honored sales pitch used by all political candidates heard in a Biden TV spot: "You have my word on it."

Dave Gorak

Executive director, Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration

La Valle, WI

Shortly after President Trump appointed Vice President Pence to be the nation's "corona virus czar," Rep. Mark Pocan sarcastically tweeted, "I'm feeling safer already."

How safe should we feel knowing that Pocan and his congressional colleagues from both political parties continue to remain silent about the government allowing U.S. pharmaceutical companies to force Americans to be almost entirely dependent on China for the production of antibiotic drugs?

Talk to us Mr. Pocan.  Please tell us that you want the manufacture of these live-saving drugs to be back in this country instead of, say, spending so much time trying to remove a duly elected president from office.

Are we going to have immigration limits or not?

That's the question underlying the calls for the abolition of Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE), the bureau within the Department of Homeland Security responsible for upholding our immigration rules away from the borders.

The push to #AbolishICE is threatening to become a litmus test for Democratic politicians. It has been embraced by presidential hopefuls like Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand(D-N.Y.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), as well as other far-left figures such as New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, actress-turned-New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon, and a number of House members.

Despite the efforts of some senior Democrats to try to tamp down the anti-borders fervor of their base for fear of political backlash, the energy in the Democratic party is clearly on the far left. In the words of activist Sean McElwee, a co-founder of AbolishICE.org:

"I believe that every Democrat running in the 2020 Presidential Election will have to articulate a vision of a world without ICE."

Democrats have a solution for illegal immigration: Abolish ICE. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wisconsin, is drafting legislation to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and five Democrats are joining him. Looking at the recent protest signs in Portland, this idea is taking off. Well, it’s a novel idea. No police, no lawbreakers. No Border Patrol. No border.

So, how did we get caught between separating children from their parents and abolishing ICE? As a child therapist, I’m keenly aware of the trauma that’s caused when children are separated from their parents. And I don’t support it.

But since the 1990s, between 6,000 and 10,000 migrants, including children, have died miserable deaths along our southern border. Millions of families have been separated as the parents came north to get better paid jobs and provide wealthy Americans with an abundant stream of cheap labor as nannies, landscapers, house cleaners and so on. The negative impact on children and family structure of migrating providers is well documented by academics, and many children have been abandoned entirely by fathers who started new families in America.

Prior to President Barack Obama’s “catch and release” policies, 90 percent of illegal migrants were single men, who, if caught, faced incarceration until their cases were heard. But the number of children brought to the border exploded when people realized that with a child they would be released into the interior with an appointment for a future hearing, and many never showed up. In addition, these policies created business opportunities for drug gangs who moved into smuggling children and using children to carry drugs.

So, where was public shock and moral outrage on behalf of children all these years?