Speech #1030096904

I met with Maj. Gen. John Conway of the National Guard bureau and talked to him about devising a plan. modeled after the current counterdrug program. that would supplement our border patrol with National Guard men and women. Today. again. I want to thank Sonators REID and INOUYE for working with me to include funding for this important provision in the 1994 Defense Appropriations Act. We need to be clear when we are talking about the issue of illegal immigration. It may seem like restating the obvious. but when we talk about stopping the influx of undocumented immigrants. we are not talking about restricting legal immigration. There is a difference between illegal immigration and legal immigration. I. myself. am a first generation American on my mothers side. I know that this Nation was built upon the dreams of immigrants who traveled here from all over the world. I know that immigration is what makes this Nation great. it is what weaves together the fabric that we call America. We need to shed the extreme rhetoric on both sides of this illegal immigration debate and focus on the issue at hand. The issue is enforcement of our laws. We already know that the illegal immigration problem is a critical one. and the Congress has enacted comprehensive laws to address it. These laws are clear. and today I am offering a plan to strengthen our ability to enforce them. For over 100 years. the Federal Government has had control over U.S. immigration policy. These policies are written. administered. and funded by the Federal Government with the understanding that immigration has critical implications for our economy and our national security. In 1952. we passed the Immigration and Nationality Act and created the legal framework of our current immigration system. Chapter 12 of title VIII governs immigration and nationality and makes it perfectly clear what is legal and what is not. This chapter specifically identifies the conditions for entering the United States. conditions for working and remaining here. and conditions for becoming a citizen. More recently. the Immigration Act of 1990 established new guidelines for those individuals who legally enter this country. We have set up a system where the vast majority of those who may enter are family members seeking reunification with other family members. By placing family reunification at the centerpiece of our policies. we are saying a lot about the family friendly nature of our immigration laws. We are saying that families are the foundation of a healthy nation. that they serve as buffers to help ease the cultural and psychological transition that often accompanies immigration. and that they provide the critical support that enables our immigrant children to contribute to the work force. reach beyond their grasp and live the American dream. To preserve legal immigration and all its contributions. we must also recognize and respond to the challenges and difficulties posed by illegal immigration. In 1986. after more than 15 years of concern and deliberation. Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act. The expressed intent of this act was to atop the influx of illegal immigrants. regain control over our borders and ensure that U.S. jobs continue to go to U.S. citizens and to those who are legally here. Acknowledging that the most common reason for illegal entry into the United States was the prospect of work. Congress instituted employer sanctions as an essential enforcement mechanism to curb illegal immigration. Specifically. the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 makes it "unlawful for a person or other entity to hire. or to recruit or refer for a fee. for employment in the United States an alien who has not entered the United States legally or whose immigration status does not permit employment." Mr. President. the act makes the point perfectly clearly. Employers should not be able to use one hand to take jobs away from U.S. citizens and those who are here legally and the other hand to entice illegal immigrants toward work that is often exploitive. We do not need to go any further than the San Diego border to realize we havent provided the resources needed to back up these laws. Just look at the statistics. Every night of the week. the San Diego Border Patrol unit apprehends up to 2.000 illegal immigrants. and an estimated 3 million people illegally cross the United StatesMexico border each year. Between 200.000 and 300.000 of these entrants become permanent inhabitants. By some estimates. California is home to approximately 1.3 million illegal immigrants. more than 50 percent of all the undocumented immigrants living in America. We must understand that our laws do not mean anything if we do not give the Immigration and Naturalization Service [INS] the tools it needs to effectively enforce those laws. On August 4. 1993. the House Committee on Government Operations issued a report highlighting enforcement deficiencies at the INS. I wish to read just a few sentences directly from this report: The enforcement functions of INS have suffered substantially from the failure of the executive and legislative branches to provide adequate staff to do the job. Despite increases in funding for the Border Patrol. the portion of Border Patrol agent time devoted to Border Patrol activities actually decreased from 71 percent to 60 percent between 1986 and 1991. In the opinion of the General Accounting Office. the border patrol has "lost control of the southwest border in part because of staffing shortages." We must listen to those who are on the front lines. We need to listen to Gus DeLaVina. the chief of the U.S. Border Patrol in southern California. This past Monday he was quoted in the San Diego Union as saying. "I could guarantee 90 percent control of this border if we had the proper backup." Congress has studied the problem. heard the experts. listened to the people who are on the lines. Now it is time for us to offer innovative solutions to strengthen the enforcement of our laws. As I explained on July 29. when I first offered my plan. the National Guard is already utilized for purposes ranging from national disaster relief to drug interdiction and from customs operations to local law enforcement. We now have the opportunity to put these fine men and women to work helping our Border Patrol officers stem the flow of illegal immigration. We know that our Border Patrol officers are spread too thin. In California. we only have 200 Border Patrol agents patrolling the 200mile border at any given time. As of September 18. nationally we had 3.993 Border Patrol officers. 1.247 of these officers were assigned to California. But. when we look at the activity breakdowns of our Border Patrol agents. we find that far too few of them are actually assigned to interdict undocumented immigrants. We know that we need to expand the capability of our Border Patrol. In an ideal world. we would simply increase the number of those officers. But. we all understand the budgetary constraints facing America today. We know that we need to reinvent Government and find ways to do more with less. By utilizing the National Guard as a force multiplier to the Border Patrol. we will be able to do juot that. Our Counter Drug Program offers an Instructive model for the pivotal role that the National Guard could play in stemming illegal immigration activities. Many have asked me. "Senator. what do you think the National Guard could do?" While it will eventually be up to the Governor to offer a specific plan on what they would do. I want to give you some of the elements that I believe should be included in the Border Patrol Program. First. separate letters from a States Governor and Attorney General should be submitted to the Secretary of Defense. These letters should confirm that they have reviewed the submitted plan and found it to be in compliance with State law. Second. each State should specify the specific mission it wants the Guard to perform. In the Counter Drug Program the Guard has provided ground reconnaissance and surveillance. aerial reconnaissance and surveillance. aerial photography. aerial interdiction. cargo inspection. aerial transportation. maintenance support. training. and administrative support when this support would free up someone to perform their law enforcement duties. The Guard could fill many of these roles in their efforts to supplement the Border Patrol. They could offer administrative support and free up those officers who are now behind a desk to get to the border where they are needed. They could provide engineering support like building fences. They could map the border. They could offer transportation assistance for prisoners. Again. we have Border Patrol agents. Madam President. who are supposed to be on the border to stop illegal immigration. but they are driving a carload of illegal immigrants back to the other side of the border. They could be relieved by a National Guard driver. They could perform cargo inspections in order to detect the illegal immigrants who are smuggled here in the back of trucks. and they could survey and monitor the border at both check points and noncheck points. In each of these roles. they are serving as force multipliers. freeing up our Border Patrol officers to more effectively do their jobs. Third. a States plan should detail the cost and the number of people assigned to each mission. Fourth. the plan should clearly delineate the Border Patrols strategies. goals and objectives and include a memorandum of underatanding outlining the cooperation needed between the National Guard and the Border Patrol in order to meet these goals. Fifth. there should be a clarification of the chain of command. And sixth. there should be a statement outlining the parameters of the Guards authority.