Speech #1030055873

Mr. Chairman. we have talked about this issue in the general debate for a few minutes. First I want to thank the chairman and the ranking member. the gentleman from Kentucky . for working hard to try to get Border Patrol funding to at least the level that it was at last year. And I know that was a difficult task. But once again. the problem is that the challenge that we now have with illegal immigration. and not only illegal immigration. the smuggling of people. but also the smuggling of narcotics has grown by leaps and bounds. and very simply there is a flood of cocaine across the land border between the United States and Mexico. We have now increased interdiction of cocaine by 1.000 percent. my colleagues. over the last several years. Over half a billion dollars worth of cocaine has been captured just in the last 3 months coming over that 70- or 80mile stretch just west of Yuma. AZ. We now have in excess of 400.000 apprehensions of illegal aliens in the last year. And according to the GAO. and I think this is an important factor for our Members to consider. 22 percent of the Federal inmate population are illegal aliens. We have tried in California to make some evaluation of the impact on the taxpayer that is caused by illegal aliens. and we have made a couple of stabs at it. and I think they are fairly accurate. In San Diego County we compiled $143 million in annual costs that are a result of illegal aliens. They include medical costs and law enforcement costs. The gentleman from Californip has pushed hard and in fact has worked and received higher authorizations for the Border Patrol in years past and has been involved in this. Also my colleague from California. ELTON GALLEGLY. in Los Angeles has done some fairly extensive analysis. We think you can safely say that $3 billion in social costs. criminal justice costs were paid in California last year to illegal aliens. largely. in fact almost totally unreimbursed costs. Mr. Chairman. if you look at the Border Patrol itself. and ask yourself how large is this contingent of American officers that patrols this massive land border. you will find that there are only 4.035 agents and 734 support personnel in the Border Patrol. Now. we have authorized much higher levels. And when we passed the 1986 Immigration Act we authorized a much higher level than that. but that is all we have. And what that really boils down to is if you take the Border Patrol at any given time on the massive border. and I will take California. for example. the 150- or 160mile border between the United States and Mexico in California. you only have about 50 agents actually on the line at any given time spread out over this 150mile border. As a result of that. anyone who wants to get into the United States can. whether they are a terrorist. an illegal alien. or someone who is carrying massive loads of narcotics. and they ate now carrying loads of cocaine on their backs in backpacks and coming across the land border. Just in the last several months we have captured over 500 Chinese aliens coming across the land border. They have realized that this is the way to go. We have captured now in the El Centro sector 559 million dollars worth of cocaine. half a billion worth of cocaine in just a couple of months. Let me just say this is a massive problem. All of the analysis indicates that for criminal justice reasons. for social cost reasons. and for reasons of giving some integrity to our immigration system. we must have more Border Patrol agents. There is only one agency that is authorized to patrol the U.S. border. and that is the Border Patrol. This amendment will give some $60 million and provide 600 new agents. It is not everything that we need. but it is a start. and I would urge every Member to support that.