Speech #1040190467

I can understand now why the amendment was offered. because there are a number of mistakes with respect to the facts. The gentleman mentioned that Chief Reyes. Silvester Reyes. who is by far the most famous Border Patrol chief in this country because he actually did something in terms of stemming the tide and holding the line in El Paso. was represented by a San Diego Union editorial writer as being opposed to the fence. After he testified before the Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims of the Committee on the Judiciary. he stated that. if you had sufficient agencies and you had a triple fence. you could indeed stop illegal immigration. When I sent the editorial that the gentleman just read and another editorial to Silvester Reyes. he responded with a corrective letter to the newspaper admonishing them not to misrepresent his position. His position just a couple of days ago was this: As a former chief of the El Paso Border Patrol sector. I testified last year before Congress on our efforts to control illegal immigration In the El Paso area. I might add that he testifled with Mrs. Meissner. head of the INS. who opposed the fence. sitting right next to him and glaring at him as he testified. He said: Representative DUNCAN HUNTER asked me if triple fencing along the border and additional staffing would provide us with the proper resources to control illegal immigration. I replied that it would. Mr. Chairman. now. that is the word from Silvester Reyes. We can cable him. we can pass him on the street. we can phone him. but he has repudiated the statement by the San Diego Union that he really did not mean it when he said that the border fence would stop illegal immigration if it was erected and if it had sufficient staffing. Now. the gentleman has talked about safety. I have had a number of Border Patrol agents to my town meetings. and they like the triple fence and the INS. which has tried to scare its agents. has not told them about the provision in this lengthy Sandia analysis that engineers the fence. which is dedicated to safety. and it said we are going to do a number of things for safety. It said we are going to make sure that the cars are armored that go in between. We are going to give them plenty of turnaround room.