Campaign Website: http://www.chrisdodd.com/home
Contact Information:
Chris Dodd for President
PO Box 51882
Washington, DC 20091
Tel. (DC): (202) 737-DODD (3633)
Tel. (CT): (860) 244-2008       
http://www.chrisdodd.com/contact

Assessing Overall Candidate Promises

EDITOR'S NOTE: All of a candidates' actions and promises on immigration are considered in these three overarching categories --

• what do you do with the 12-20 million illegal aliens already here;
• what do you do to stop future illegal immigration, and
• what do you do to protect American workers and communities from the current peak flood of foreign workers?

Amnesty & Attrition Through Enforcement

Assessment of Past Immigration Actions
in Political Office

2007: Voted on Senate floor in favor of amnesty for illegal aliens
Sen. Dodd voted in favor of a motion to invoke cloture on S. 1639, a bill to reward illegal aliens with amnesty. The motion to invoke cloture was a move to initiate debate on the proposal and limit further discussion of amendments to a previously-agreed upon set of proposals -- thus a vote against cloture was effectively a vote in favor of killing the amnesty-guestworker bill. The motion to invoke cloture passed by a vote of 64 to 35. 

Click here for more AMNESTY actions.

2007: Voted on Senate floor in favor of increasing chain migration
Sen. Dodd voted in favor of a motion to invoke cloture on S. 1639, a bill to increase chain migration by approximately 251,000 per year. The motion to invoke cloture was a move to initiate debate on the proposal and limit further discussion of amendments to a previously-agreed upon set of proposals -- thus a vote against cloture was effectively a vote in favor of killing the amnesty-guestworker bill. The motion to invoke cloture passed by a vote of 64 to 35. 

Click here for more CHAIN MIGRATION actions.

2007: Voted on Senate floor in favor of increasing foreign worker visas
Sen. Dodd voted in favor of a motion to invoke cloture on S. 1639, a bill to increase importation of temporary and permanent foreign workers. The motion to invoke cloture was a move to initiate debate on the proposal and limit further discussion of amendments to a previously-agreed upon set of proposals -- thus a vote against cloture was effectively a vote in favor of killing the amnesty-guestworker bill. The motion to invoke cloture passed by a vote of 64 to 35. 

Click here for more FOREIGN WORKER actions.

2007: Voted on Senate floor against amendment to increase border control
Sen. Dodd voted against the Coburn Amendment (SA 1311) to S. 1348 to increase border control by requiring: construction of the border fence; implementation of US VISIT (entry-exit system); and biometric identification documents. The Coburn Amendment failed by a vote of 42 to 54. 

Click here for more BORDER CONTROL actions.

2007: Voted on Senate floor against amendment to increase interior enforcement
Sen. Dodd voted against the Coburn Amendment (SA 1311) to S. 1348 to increase interior enforcement by requiring implementation of US VISIT (entry-exit system) and biometric identification documents. The Coburn Amendment failed by a vote of 42 to 54.

Click here for more INTERIOR ENFORCEMENT actions.

2007: Cosponsoring S. 774 to reward illegal aliens with in-state tuition
S. 774 would reward illegal aliens under the age of 21 who have been physically present in the country for five years and are in 7th grade or above with in-state tuition rates at colleges and universities.

2007: Voted in favor of sanctuary policies for illegal aliens
Sen. Dodd voted in favor of tabling the Vitter Amendment to H.R. 3093, the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) spending bill. The Vitter Amendment would have denied Federal Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) funding to state and local governments who refuse to share information with Federal immigration authorities. The vote to table the Vitter Amendment passed 52 to 42, effectively killing the amendment. 

2007: Voted on Senate floor to deter employers from hiring illegal aliens Sen. Dodd voted in favor of the Sessions Amendment to H.R. 2, the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. The Sessions Amendment would prohibit employers who hire illegal aliens from receiving government contracts. The Sessions Amendment passed by a vote of 94-0. 

Assessing Specific Stances on LEGAL IMMIGRATION

EDITOR'S NOTE: Unless the following four categories of legal immigration are changed, current policies will add 100 million additional people to the United States over the next few decades.

Visa Lottery

IMPORTING FOREIGN WORKERS

Citizenship for Births to ILLEGAL ALIENS

Assessing Specific Stances on ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

EDITORS NOTE: Here are 8 very important steps needed to halt illegal immigration. Aspects not included in this section are included in the section above about Overall Policies on Future Illegal Immigration.

MANDATORY WORKPLACE VERIFICATION

2007: Has not cosponsored the SAVE Act (Secure America with Verification Enforcement) which would require all employers verify employment eligibility for all employees through the E-Verify program (formerly the Basic Pilot program).

1996: Voted against the Abraham Amendment to S. 1644, a vote in favor of increased interior enforcement
Sen. Dodd voted against the Abraham Amendment to strip the voluntary workplace verification program from S. 1644. Workplace verification programs help reduce illegal immigration by withdrawing the job magnet from illegal aliens. The Abraham Amendment failed by a vote of 54-46.

PUNISHING EMPLOYERS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS  

2006: Voted in favor of amendment to increase interior enforcement
Sen. Dodd voted in favor of the Bingaman Amendment to S. 2454 to authorize grants to state, local, or tribal law enforcement agencies near the borders to assist in immigration enforcement. The Bingaman Amendment passed by a vote of 84 to 6.

Click here for more INTERIOR ENFORCEMENT actions.

ENTRY/EXIT SYSTEM AT BORDERS

BORDER SECURITY

SANCTUARY CITIES POLICIES

DRIVER'S LICENSES FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS

STATE AID TO ILLEGAL STUDENTS

Connecticut’s Chris Dodd is a senior Democratic leader in the United States Senate.

Senator Dodd is currently a senior member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and is the senior Democrat on its Education and Early Childhood Development Subcommittee. He also is the senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, and Narcotics. He serves on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, and is the senior Democrat on its Securities and Investment Subcommittee. He also is the senior Democrat on the Rules and Administration Committee.

Dodd’s commitment to public service and human rights was instilled at an early age by his parents, the late Senator Thomas J. Dodd and Grace Murphy Dodd. Thomas Dodd was one of the lead prosecutors during the Nuremberg war crimes tribunals before he was elected to the United States Senate. Chris Dodd is the first Connecticut son to follow his father into the Senate and the youngest person ever elected to the United States Senate in Connecticut history. He is also the first Connecticut Senator popularly elected to five terms.

Following his graduation from Providence College, Dodd, who is fluent in Spanish, spent two years in the Peace Corps working in a rural village in the Dominican Republic. Upon returning to the United States, Dodd enlisted in the Army and served in the reserves. In 1972, he earned a law degree from the University of Louisville School of Law. He practiced law in New London before his election to Congress in 1974, where he served three terms in the House of Representatives on behalf of Connecticut’s Second District.

Dodd was born May 27, 1944, in Willimantic, Connecticut, the fifth of six children. Senator Dodd lives in East Haddam with his wife, Jackie Clegg Dodd, and their daughters Grace and Christina.