8th Congressional District GOP hopefuls debate U.S. immigration policies

Immigration policy was among the issues debated by three of the four Republican candidates for the 8th Congressional District at a recent forum.

Kevin Ake of Elk Grove Village, Jennifer Davis of Huntley and Mark Rice of Arlington Heights tackled the question of assessing current U.S. policy as well as whether they would support any changes.

Candidate Herbert Hebein of Chicago was also invited but did not attend the forum of the League of Women Voters of the Palatine, Barrington and Schaumburg Areas held Feb. 7 at Harper College.

Rice, the founder and CEO of a Chicago-based energy business, said he was at the Department of Homeland Security in Minneapolis the week before. He agrees with President Donald Trump’s recent decision to soften agents’ approach.

“This is the Democrats’ number one issue — you know, get rid of ICE and ICE is capturing, kidnapping brown people and all this complete hogwash,” Rice said. “They’re not. We need a strong border or we don’t have a country. And ICE is doing a hell of a job, and I’m proud of the job they’re doing.”

While stating that things haven’t been perfect, Rice said he expected to see progress made that would result in lower crime and lower prices.

“So I’m a big supporter, it’s an important issue to me and something I plan to work on for you in Congress,” he added.

Davis, the co-founder and former CEO of a software company, cited Ronald Reagan in calling the U.S. a nation of immigrants and laws — both of which must coexist.

“As someone who has personally immigrated people to the United States, I understand personally the challenges that it takes to make that happen,” she said. “We have got to have immigration reform and we have to have empathy for the immigrants who want to be a part of this country.”

Calling the U.S. the greatest country on Earth, Davis said there has to be a more sophisticated immigration system that allows a path for interested people around the world to be a part of it.

“We need to use modern technology to help motivated people to become Americans,” she added.

Ake, a certified public accountant, blamed Democrats for a system he said had let millions of people illegally into the country and which now has to be fixed.

“I think the president is doing a wonderful job by ICE,” he said. “I believe ICE has kind of overstepped some of their boundaries. I know it can be a messy situation taking some people out of the country. I think some of the policies can be changed.”

Ake called for bipartisan legislation allowing some people who’ve already proved to be productive residents become citizens.

“There needs to be some kind of policy for people that have been here for the longest time, that have paid taxes, that are working and there’s no criminal record,” he said.

Other topics of the forum, which can be viewed at lwvpalatinearea.org, included health care, Social Security, gun rights, LGBTQ rights, campaign fundraising ethics and finding a balance between foreign and domestic agendas.

The winner of the March 17 primary will face the winner of the Democratic primary in the Nov. 3 general election.

The Democratic candidates, who also were featured in a forum at the same location that day, are Junaid Ahmed of South Barrington, Yasmeen Bankole of Hanover Park, Melissa Bean of Barrington, Sanjyot Dunung of Des Plaines, Neil Khot of Hoffman Estates, Kevin Morrison of Mount Prospect, Dan Tully of Carol Stream and Ryan Vetticad of South Barrington.

The 8th District, currently represented by Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg, includes parts of Cook, DuPage and Kane counties.