Joe Carr, a Tennessee state representative challenging incumbent Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) in the August 7th GOP primary, released an audio statement Wednesday calling on Alexander to sign the Federation for American Immigration Reform’s (FAIR) No Amnesty Pledge.
Carr, who said the same anti-amnesty sentiment that toppled House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) can oust Alexander, also criticized Alexander for remaining silent about and contributing to the illegal immigrant crisis at the border.
“We have a manufactured crisis on our southern border – a crisis created by Barack Obama and Lamar Alexander, with the idea that granting amnesty to 11 million illegal aliens at a cost of $40 billion dollars is going to solve a problem for the American worker,” he stated. “As this nation’s crisis has unfolded, Lamar Alexander has been silent. Lamar Alexander refuses to accept responsibility for his role in this reckless and misguided support of amnesty, and has played in jeopardizing the security of our border and the lives lost by those hoping to benefit from his amnesty solution.”
Carr cited a Breitbart News report that detailed how law enforcement agents warned Alexander and other senators in 2013 that passing the Senate’s comprehensive immigration reform bill that Alexander voted for would exacerbate the border crisis and entice “thousands of unaccompanied children, runaways, and families” to “illegally enter the United States in hopes of receiving legalization.”
“We have now seen that come to pass,” said Carr. “Lamar Alexander’s support for amnesty is the cause of our escalating border crisis. This is a national crisis. Thousands of children are suffering – all because Lamar Alexander ignored the rule of law and the condition of our border.”
Though he voted for the Senate’s “Gang of Eight” amnesty bill in 2013, which passed the upper chamber, Alexander had opposed previous pieces of amnesty legislation.
In 2010, he voted against the Senate’s DREAM Act in 2010, and he opposed the infamous McCain-Kennedy comprehensive amnesty bill in 2007. Both bills, unlike the the 2013 comprehensive immigration bill, failed to pass the Senate.
Numbers USA, the anti-amnesty group, has given Alexander a C- grade on immigration issues for this Congress and a C+ career grade on the issue.
Carr said that Alexander’s “amnesty solution” also “rewards lawlessness, attacks the sovereignty of our country, and most tragically, penalizes the American worker with an oversupply of unskilled labor in an economy that is producing little jobs and no growth.”
Saying Tennesseans “reject this attack on the American worker,” Carr called on Alexander to “stop representing big business for once and represent the American worker in Tennessee.”
“Secure the border now,” Carr said. “Lamar Alexander, it’s time to stand up and join me by signing the FAIR Pledge. Say, ‘No’ to amnesty.”