Let me say finally. also. Mr. Chairman. as the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims for the Committee on the Judiciary. I am certainly gratified that we have in this supplemental appropriations. and viewed as an emergency. some $80 million for the Immigration and Naturalization Service for increased border enforcement. I. however. raise the concern. as many experts have. that border enforcement without trained. experienced Border Patrol agents is of no value. So I hope that we recognize that we need trained Border Patrol agents. We need to have dollars as well to prohibit and inhibit border violence. And the question of adding additional beds is not going to be the panacea that we would like it to be. [ 1430 In fact. the real issue is the 1996 immigration reform legislation that in fact caused the INS to have to deal with locking up. if you will. immigrants who have been here. who 20. 30. 40 years ago may have had an infraction such as a traffic ticket. They are then arrested. separated from their families. filling up these private prisons: and the real criminals that we do not want to have on the street are not able to be incarcerated. We have got to reform the INS legislation to go back to reality and sanity.
Keywords matched
immigration Immigration immigrants Naturalization border enforcement Border Patrol