Chairman. I wish to engage the distinguished chairman of the House Commerce. Justice Appropriations Subcommittee in a colloquy regarding the proposed language contained in the committee report on H.R. 2076 regarding the hiring and placement of INS investigation. detention. and border patrol agents. While I strongly support the subcommittees goal to increase the number of INS personnel along the southern border of the United States. I am concerned that the language of the Committee Report may result in the further weakening of an already inadequate INS and border patrol presence in the Nations interior agricultural areas. In my own Fourth Congressional District of Washington. the illegal immigration problem has forced the INS office in Yakima to shut down its telephone service. A local newspaper recently reported that during a raid in the Yakima Valley this spring. the border patrol found that 23 out of 25 migrant workers were illegal immigrants. and 12 of them were using someone elses social security number. In addition. Franklin county jail estimates that in 1994. an average of 50 percent of its inmate population consisted of illegal aliens. many of whom remained in the county jail at taxpayer expense simply because there were not enough border patrol agents to transfer them for deportation. Mr. Chairman. our Nation must not only protect its borders from the influx of illegal immigration. but it must also seek to control document fraud and remove those illegal aliens already here. To do that. we need to maintain a strong INS presence in the interior as well as along the southern border. I would ask the chairman of the subcommittee if interior congressional districts may be assured that Members and INS regional directors will be consulted before firil INS hiring and relocating decisiohis are made?
Keywords matched
illegal immigrants border patrol illegal immigration deportation migrant illegal aliens