Speech #1010216942

Mr. Chairman. I rise today to cosponsor the MOORHEAD amendment which would assist the Border Patrol in containing the roughly 200.000 people who stream across our southern borders illegally. An amendment which I coauthored with Mr. Moorhead In 1986 expanded the border patrol funding by 50 percent. This amendment will further that effort. Presently. our ability to protect our borders is ineffective. Four million illegal immigrants will arrive in the United States this year. At any one time. only 800 patrolmen stand duty along the 1.933mile United States/Mexican border. Clearly. something has to be done in order to help these overextended officers enforce the law. Mr. Chairman. we cannot underestimate the effects of illegal immigration on our country. Unfortunately. there is an undeniable connection between illegal immigrants and the war we are currently fighting against drug imports and drugrelated crimes. As much as 50 percent of the cocaine entering the United States comes through Mexico. Last year. the Border Patrol confiscated cocaine and heroin valued at $1.2 billion. This year approximately 72.000 illegal aliens will be arrested for drug dealing. Los Angeles County reports that approximately 33 percent of the major crimes are committed by illegal immigrants. Nearly 20 percent of the inmates in Federal prisons are illegal aliens. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 granted amnesty to 3.1 million illegal aliens across the country. an estimated 25 percent of these people were in the Los Angeles area. Between 1983 and 1989. Los Angeles spent $768.8 million in unreimbursed health care for Illegal aliens alone. Together. with higher expenditures for education. housing. and other social services. Los Angeles can no longer bear the burden of illegal immigration alone. Proponents of this immigration package feel that offering increased preferences for immediate family members will stem the tide of ille. gal immigrants. I hope that they are right. but I urge those same people to look at the effect of illegal immigration on the Southwestern States and vote for amendments. such as the Moorhead/Dreier amendment. to ensure that the brunt of reforms will not be isolated to a few areas of the country. Though reform in legal immigration policies are needed. we also have a constitutional responsibility to defend our borders. The protection of the sovereignty of the United States by our Border Patrol sends a clear message to those who seek citizenship that they must obey our legal procedures.