Speech #1040267325

Mr. Speaker. just yesterday. the Knoxville NewsSentinel reported that a Tennessee Highway Patrolman stopped a van on 175 which contained 25 illegal immigrants. The arresting officer attempted to contact the INS but could not even get a person to answer the phone at the Memphis INS office. He was quoted in the paper as saying: "Immigration just took the phone off the hook." He repeatedly attempted to contact INS officials but all he got was: "360 degrees of answering machines." So what did the trooper do? All he could do. he let illegal aliens go. Simply. he had no legal authority to detain them. This is the sixth time this year that illegal aliens have been stopped by local authorities in my district and had to be released. Six different vans containing at least 130 illegal immigrants have been let go because of the INS refusal to act. When local officials have talked to INS. they were told that there were no funds available to send INS officers to arrest. detain. and deport these illegal aliens. The INS has received a 72percent increase in funding in the last 3 years. which is approximately eight times the rate of inflation over that period. Almost no other Federal agency has received that type of increase in recent years. With this increase in funding. local officials have a right to be outraged by INS inaction. I agree with them completely. One sheriff in my district has told his deputies to not even bother questioning individuals they stop to determine if they are illegal aliens because of the INS inaction. Have things gotten so bad that law enforcement officials have no choice but to. in effect. condone the breaking of the law? The six vans that I am referring to are only those reported by the local media. Just think how many other illegal aliens travel through Tennessee without being caught. The Clinton administration bureaucrats seem unwilling to correct this situation. Mr.