Congressman Deal visits Blairsville

Congressman Nathan Deal, his wife and several members of his staff came to Blairsville last Wednesday afternoon, August 8, for a "town hall" meeting. The Congressman is hosting a series of Town Hall meetings this week across the 15 counties in the 10th Congressional District which he represents.

During the meeting in Blairsville at United Community Bank's Brackett Building, the ninth such meeting he has held this week, Congressman Deal fielded scores of questions from the audience of more than 100 people on a wide variety of topics, including the war in Iraq, illegal immigration, taxes, health and social programs, the military draft, the national budget, and other subjects on the minds of those assembled.

The two topics drawing the most questions and discussion were the Iraqi war and illegal immigration.

Congressman Deal said he voted against specifying a troop withdrawal date as a limitation on funding the war because he does not believe the U.S. should pull out until the war is "won." His question on whether we should reinstate the military draft was met with strong opposition from the crowd, one veteran saying if he was in battle he would want his "back covered by a volunteer who wanted to be there, not by a draftee who didn't want to be there."

The Congressman stated that Georgia has the fourth highest number of illegal immigrants in the nation and that one out of every ten births in the U.S. are to illegal immigrants. He said his research shows that a disproportionate number of drug crimes are committed by illegal immigrants. He cited the financial burden the country bears for education and health care for the immigrants. He said one of the many problems are the patchwork laws that are unrealistic, such as giving automatic citizenship to children born in this country to illegal immigrants.

Congressman Deal appeared to be pleased with the turnout, saying it was the largest number in attendance for any of the Town Hall meetings he has held so far this week.