Speech #1090054424

But we know they continue to come. that vulnerability continues to exist. as long as the Federal Government fails to live up to its responsibility to secure our border. This bill. to the great credit of the subcommittee and its chairman. the Senator from New Hampshire. recommends a total of about $6 billion for securing the Nations borders. including $1.7 billion for border staffing between the ports of entry. Separately. the bill includes $81 million for construction requirements associated with 1.000 new Border Patrol agents. I mentioned the issue of detention beds. There are only 20.000 beds right now. which is woefully inadequate. Given our failure to implement nationwide expedited removal processes for people who come to our country illegally. the Border Patrol and the Federal agencies are simply left with this unworkable and inexcusable system of catchandrelease. which merely exacerbates the problem we have in this country with illegal immigration. This bill moves us in the right direction by funding an additional 2.240 detention beds. with a $77 million increase. bringing the total up to almost 23.000 beds. It is still not enough. but clearly this moves us in the right direction.