Mr. Speaker. today I have reintroduced legislation to authorize the Secretary of Defense to assign up to 10.000 fulltime Department of Defense [DOD] personnel to assist the Immigration and Naturalization Service [INS] and the U.S. Customs Service perform their border protection functions. The border patrol has the strength of only 3.800. yet its mission Is to guard the two longest borders of one of the largest countries of the world. Reports Indicate that. at any given time. only 800 patrolmen are available to protect our 2.000mile southern border. Congress has failed to provide funding necessary to enlarge the border patrol. Until Congress can find the money. this military option is the best shortterm way to address this shortage of border patrol personnel. Until our borders are fully protected. Illegal Immigrants. drug traffickers and possible terrorists will have an open invitation to cross into the United States undetected. DOD personnel are already involved in some border protection work. Yet. in terms of numbers. their involvement is virtually Insignificant. My new bill would permit the Secretary
Keywords matched
border protection Immigration Naturalization border patrol Illegal Immigrants