Speech #1040234405

Mr. Chairman. very simply. this amendment affects the proposal that the gentleman from California made on the border train. which lies mainly in my congressional district. and I brought up to my colleagues the problems that we presently have on the southern border of California with overwhelming out of control illegal immigration. It has become a cocaine highway in San Diego and Imperial Counties. and the problem with this train is that a border train. which does not even go into Mexico. in New Mexico was robbed 600 times last year. according to headline stories in the Boston Globe. the L.A. Times and the San Diego Union. So you have an issue of border control and what effect this border train that weaves in and out of Mexico will have on that situation. Will it become an illegal alien express? Will it be robbed? Will it build up a base of banditry along the southern border? What my amendment does very simply is it asks for a study. It says. we cannot fund any funds under this section until and unless a study is done that addresses the effect of existing border trains on illegal immigration. cocaine smuggling. and the prospects for banditry which have taken place in great numbers in New Mexico. So we need information on this proposal. and this amendment asks for a report that gives that information. and certainly I cannot see any proponents wanting to deny the House information that would let us make a reasoned judgment on this border train. Mr.