Speech #990274913

So it seems to me that the focus is on the House. If we are going to get a bill out. the House must act. we cannot wait any longer. The administration has repeatedly expressed its support for immigration reform legislation. particularly the President has. He has made statements in past years and early this year met with Chairman RODINO of the Judiciary Committee. with Mr. FISH. with Mr. MAZZOLI. and myself. giving his support for immigration reform legislation. including support. I might add. for funding. Many share my own view that already we have a crisis on our southern border. We have huge numbers of undocumented aliens crossing our borders daily. What we witnessed in the last years is a deterioration of any semblance of control over who may enter into our country. Last year we had 1.2 million apprehensions of people who were here illegally. This year. apprehensions are running somewhere between 43 and 50 percent above last year. By simple mathematical calculation. anyone can determine that we are going to have somewhere between 1.8 and 2 million apprehensions of illegal aliens this year. For every one apprehension that is made. Border Patrol officers will tell you somewhere between two and four successful illegal entries are made. For Members who have been on the border recently. they can see how it deteriorates on a daily basis. Some members of my own delegation from California have been there more recently. as late as last week. and have told me about how it has even deteriorated from the last time I was down there.