Speech #960270594

Mr. Chairman. my amendment would add funds to the Immigration and Naturalization Service appropriations for an additional 311 border patrol positions and 91 inspectors. thereby funding the positions included in the Department of Justice authorization bill. as reported by the House Judiciary Committee (H. Rept. 96873). I am aware that the Appropriations Committee report indicates that committee decided to delay additional funding in these areas until the report of the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy is filed next calendar year. I serve on that Commission. and I must take issue with this decision to delay funding for such increases beyond fiscal year 1981. I can say unequivocally a consensus is developing among members of the Commission. which include Members of both Houses of the Congress and four members of the Cabinet. that a basic element in any reform of immigration policy must be to reduce the flow of illegal aliens into this country. No new immigration policy can be implemented if there is a simple way to avoid the system by entering illegally into the United States. This position was inherent in the Presidents 1977 recommendations to the Congress. It is no less true today. Nor should it oome as a surprise. In fact. if there were no select commission. it is still the responsibility of the Congress to respond to the flow of illegal aliens entering our country. It is occurring every day. On what basis can we put off even trying to improve border control? The U.S. border patrol and the Immigration Service inspectors who man various ports of entry are charged with the repsonsibility to maintain the integrity of our borders. Over the past several years. the numbers of illegal aliens apprehended have increased every yeartopping 1 million last year. We also know that where personnel have been concentrated in one sector. experience shows the rate of apprehension has gone up. In recent years. disturbing developments have diluted the effectiveness of existing border patrol manpower. Increases in violence along the border have resulted in doubling up patrols. replacing at night one patrolman per car with two per car. This reduces the actual number if units available at any one time. diminishing the visual deterrent effect of the patrol. and also its ability to respond to reports of illegal crossings. Due to their fluency in the Spanish language. border patrol personnel were temporarily reassigned from the Southwestern part of the United States to Florida and to military bases around the country. to assist in processing Cuban arrivals. Reports indicate that the flow of illegal aliens across the Southwest border increased. once the fact became known and less patrol personnel were present along the border. I am now advised south Florida is considered an area of vulnerability by the Immigration Service so further assignments of border patrol can be expected. Mr. Chairman. how has our Government responded to these problems on our borders? For the past 2 fiscal years. the Judiciary Committee has recommended and this Congress has supported increases in the Border Patrol. For fiscal year 1980. the Judiciary Committee authorized 495 additional border patrol positions. and funds for this number were appropriated. However. OMB refused to fill 194 of these positions. For fiscal year 1981. the Department of Justice requested of OMB 112 additional border patrol positions. OMB. however. rejected the Departments request totally. and unbelievably. recommended to the Congress not just a status quo but a reduction in the authorized level of 199. This posture I regret was accepted by your Appropriating Subcommittee. The net effect of this is that the level of border patrol personnel today und3r the appropriation before us would be below the authorized 1979 level. Actually. Mr. Chairman. the number of border patrol on duty on June 13. 1980 was 143 people below the level authorized for fiscal year 1978. What my amendment simply does is to bring Immigration and Naturalization Service personnel strength in two categories to the figure appropriated for by the Congress in fiscal year 1980. plus that recommended by the Department of Justice for fiscal year 1981. May I remind the committee that experience has shown recruiting and training of border patrol personnel takes a considerable period of time. For example. once a person is recruited for the border patrol. he or she spends 4 months at the Immigration Service Training Center at Glynco. Ga. For the next 8 months. the patrolman is on duty only under the supervision of a more senior border patrol officer during completion of his training period. My amendment also increases the number of inspection positions by 91. This figure is the total number of inspection positions the INS requested of the Department of Justice.