Speech #1040204912

Mr. President. I am not going to object to either of these amendments. but I would like to raise the concern that currently there is a great deal of apprehension by interior law enforcement. that is. law enforcement that is not directly on the Nations border. at the level of support being provided by INS and the Border Patrol. I might state that I recently met with a group of law enforcement leaders from the central part of my State who stated that the common practice was that for the first 6 to 9 months of the year. if they had an illegal alien in detention. the Border Patrol or appropriate other INS officials would come and take custody of that individual. During the last 3 to 6 months of the fiscal year depending on the status of the budget of the INS. nobody would show up. and therefore the law enforcement officials were in the position of either making a judgment to release the individual or to continue them in detention at their expense and oftentimes on a questionable legal basis for continued detention. I raise this phenomenon to say I hope that as the INS and the Border Patrol look at the redeployment of resources that this legislation is going to call for it is more than just a coordination with local law enforcement but. rather. that there is an affirmative effort made to assure that the capability to assume responsibility for and detain illegal aliens wherever they are determined in the United States is a high priority of the agencies. I thank the Chair.