Speech #930078267

Mr. Chairman. it is very seldom that I take the well of the House in regard to bills from other committees. One of our subcommittees on Government operations. headed by the gentleman from Missouri . has been making a study of the immigration from other countries such as Canada in the north and Mexico in the south. of aliens coming into this country. Mr. Chairman. we have studied the materials that Mr. RANDALLS committee has developed. In the last 10 years the number of these alien immigrants. who are committing a criminal act when they come into this country with either forged documents or no documents. has increased from 88.000 a year to over 560.000 in 1972. In California alone. 200.000 illegally entering aliens. most of them from south of the border. were apprehended. Then. we are faced with a situation of taking care of these people. either feeding them. jailing them. hospitalizing them. or detaining them until they can be deported. If they agree voluntarily to be deported. then we put them in vans and take them down to Tiajuana or Encinitas. and send them across the border. If they will not go voluntarily. then they have to be arrested and put in jail and detained until there can be an administrative hearing. In the case of illegal aliens who have committed felonies the Federal courts in Los Angeles will not take adidtional cases. They must be filed in San Diego. When Members think of arresting 200.000 in 1 year. they can understand what I am talking about. Los Angeles County alone has incurred a cost of over a hundred million dollars annually to apprehend. take care of. feed. hospitalize and return these aliens to the border. We have cases where we have arrested the same alien six times within 1 year. We have just considered reorganization plan No. 2 which had to do with the immigration and naturalization service. This Presidential plan says we should reduce about 500 employees in the immigration service in the face of this food of illegal aliens. We have reported from the House Government Operations Committee an amendment which will prevent the transfer of 900 employees from the Immigration and Naturalization Service to Customs. These aliens that come in across the border are taking the jobs of citizens. many of whom are out of work. I see nothing wrong with building a fence down on the border. I hope they will put people on the border patrol who will walk up and down that fence. and fly over it with helicopters. to keep these people out of our country. If they want to come in legitimately. I am all for that. but if they want to break the laws and come in illegally they should be apprehended and should be deported. I say this to the shame of the Congress. that in the past 10 years there have been requests for close to 5.000 new people in the Immigration and Naturalization Service to do the job of guarding the borders and apprehending these people when they come in. and there have been only 992 allowed by congressional action. Less than 25 percent of the number requested by the Immigration and Naturalization Service have been allowed by the Appropriations Committee. I believe it is time for us to look at this thing and look at it in reality. I do not blame the people who are trying to come across.