INS and Customs lose vigorous. trained professionals to other law enforcement agencies. The agencies also lose millions of dollars. as they have to train other inspectors to take the place of those who have just departed. Customs and Immigration inspectors are law enforcement officers. They are law enforcement officers. They carry firearms and are the countrys first line of defense against terrorism and smuggling of drugs at our borders. I represent the City of San Diego at the border crossing between Mexico and the United States. and right there in my district. 125.000 people per day. 125.000 people per day cross through the point of entry. It is the busiest border crossing in the world. And inspectors there daily face felons. They disarm people who are carrying sawedoff shotguns. switchblade knives. and handguns. They have been run over by cars and have had shootouts with drug smugglers. Fortythree courageous U.S. Customs and Immigration and Naturalization Service inspectors have been killed in the line of duty. We owe it to their memory. and to the men and women who now serve in the same dangerous jobs that their predecessors died performing. to provide inspectors with the full law enforcement status. The sad irony in this fight is that the inspectors who were killed in the line of duty eventually achieved law enforcement status when they died by having their names inscribed in the granite of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial here in Washington.
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border crossing Naturalization Immigration