WAPELLO – U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) held a town hall meeting at Briggs Civic Center in Wapello Monday.
Around three dozen attended the meeting, including State Representative Taylor Collins (R-Mediapolis).
The meeting was also part of Grassley’s annual “99 County Meetings Across Iowa” tour, which in now in its 44th year.
And while the meeting covered a wide range of issues, including foreign land ownership concerns, FEMA support for disaster areas, national security concerns, fears of socialism, and the budget, immigration issues and foreign aid (especially in Ukraine) dominated the conversation.
When asked about the threat of terrorism from illegal immigration, Grassley said immigrants on terrorist watchlists, fentanyl trafficking, child and sex trafficking, and corruption in Mexico are all of concern, but said policy to deal with those issues is in place and blamed President Biden for not enforcing existing immigration laws.
“It’s illegal to enter our country without our permission,” Grassley said. “We’re a very inviting nation to legal immigrants; about a million a year, but (congress) makes the law, we don’t enforce them. The president does.
“And then (President Biden) ran on a platform of not enforcing the law. So, he’s doing exactly what he said...and then you see the results of it.
“I think a lot of these people come over here for humanitarian reasons, and whose going to argue with that? But you still got a law, and if you believe in the rule of law, and you enforce the law, there’s plenty of ways you can get into this country legally.”
When asked about what Democratic politicians gain from supporting immigrants who come to the U.S. either illegally or as refugees, Grassley stated that, by his observations, first-generation voters have historically supported Democrats, but surmised that former President Donald Trump’s increase in support among Hispanic Americans is likely coming from second-generation citizens.
And when responding to one attendee who came to the U.S. in 2005 and described his frustrations over the time, costs, and slow bureaucracy he has experienced throughout the legal migration process, Grassley blamed Biden’s enforcement of current law, which he said has shut down discussions on immigration legislation.
When asked why the US continues to spend billions to fund the war in Ukraine, Grassley said that the some likely do not realize how the money is being spent, and also spoke of the international security interests compelling the United States to do what it can to stop Russia from taking over Ukraine.
“If you just read the newspapers, you probably think that $65 billion is just going to Kiev,” Grassley said. “$24 billion dollars is staying right here in the United States (which paying for U.S. weapons manufacturing)...And then $12 billion is going to enhance our assignment of troops to Europe because of our obligations to NATO.”
Grassley noted that a sizable amount of money is being spent at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant in Middletown to double the production of artillery shells.
The plant is one of the main producers of artillery shells that the Ukrainian Army is using to fight the Russians and the IAAP is receiving an estimated $1.2 billion for upgrades to its facilities over the next few years help increase production.
Grassley also said money from the $65 billion is going to help increase the U.S.’s overall industrial capacity for warfare.
“We used to have about 50 major defense contractors,” he said. “Today, we have about five.”
Grassley also cited a 1993 agreement that Russia signed with the U.S. and Ukraine in which Ukraine agreed to relinquish the nuclear arsenal it inherited from the Soviet Union back to Russia in exchange for a guarantee that the US would intervene should Ukraine’s sovereignty be breached.
“Russia violated that agreement,” Grassley said. “If you believe in the rule of law internationally, then you would want to make sure that somebody like (Russian President Vladimir) Putin doesn’t get away with that.”
Grassley cited concerns that, if Russia succeeds in taking over Ukraine, Putin could move to regain nations in the Baltic states or part of Poland (all of which are NATO members) as part of the Russian empire.
“(We can) spend the money in Ukraine today with no American blood being spilled,” Grassley said. “But if (Putin invades a NATO country) then we would be involved in protecting NATO along with the other 30 (NATO) countries, (and) we’d be not only spending a heck of a lot more money, but we’d be spending American blood as well. That may not be a very popular answer.”
When asked if the world was on the brink of “World War III,” Grassley quickly dismissed those fears but said a simple “No. Not as long as we do what we’re doing now.”
But Grassley he believed China attacking the Philippines may be more likely to occur rather than China attacking Taiwan.
“China is trying to cause trouble,” he said. “There’s islands claimed by China, there’s islands claimed by the Philippines. We have a mutual defense treaty with the Philippines.”
When the topic of impeaching President Biden was brought up, Grassley said there are not enough votes in the Senate to convict and that he believed such an effort would not be beneficial to his party.
“I think if Republicans have any chance of electing a president and majority in congress, impeaching Biden right would be the worst thing you could do,” he said. “Not that it might not be justified. But I’m just saying it would be the worst thing (to do right now).”
And as he prepared to leave for his second town hall meeting of the day in Fairfield, and with several other meetings scheduled across the state this week, Grassley said he believes the interactions are important.
“There’s no law that says I have to do it,” he said. “I do it because I think it’s part of my job to keep on top of what my constituents are telling me. And they deserve answers.”
