Speech #1090098622

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of House Resolution 610 and the underlying H.R. 4437. the Border Protection. Antiterterrorism. and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005. Today. this Congress continues an ongoing and difficult debate. The need for fundamental immigration reform is critical and long overdue. In 1986. President Reagan pushed for reforms to address this problem. In 1996. the 104th Congress pushed for more reforms to address the problem. Now here we are 10 years later. This Congress once again has an opportunity to debate how to best secure our borders and remove incentives for illegal immigration by enacting meaningful changes. I want to thank Chairman SENSENBRENNER and Chairman KING for this bill to close our borders to illegal immigrants and potential terrorists. Mr. Speaker. since the attacks of September 11. 4 years ago. the debate on immigration is a fundamentally different debate. Border security is no longer just a legal or economic issue. which of course it still is. Secure borders now are also a matter of national security. Procrastination and ignoring the problem will simply not make it go away. Every day we put off debating and passing comprehensive reform creates more and more opportunities for illegal immigrants to break our laws and violate our borders with the social. economic and political repercussions. For instance. there are an estimated 376.000 illegal immigrants who live in my home State of Georgia and bear an incredible toll on our social services and health care system. The burden of illegal immigrants continues to increase for the American citizens as hospitals and schools are filled with illegal immigrants who cannot pay for their education and medical expenses. Mr. Speaker. some of our schools continue to struggle simply because of the inherent burden of some illegal immigrants who require extensive remedial education at the expense of the American taxpayer and our schoolchildren. Regardless of their intention. this effect on our schools highlights the fact that illegal immigration is not a victimless crime. As this Congress continues to contemplate ways to relieve escalating medical costs. part of that expense is to reimburse doctors. nurses and hospitals who have treated illegal immigrants who could not pay their medical bills. I am a firsthand witness to doctors who have treated patients. only to have them skip out on a medical bill because they are here illegally and they do not want to be traced. Mr. Speaker. illegal immigration also endangers the lives of the immigrants themselves. I do not think this can be stated too forcefully. illegal immigration also endangers the lives of the immigrants themselves. Just ask the families of the 19 illegal immigrants who were found dead in the back of a tractortrailer truck in Victoria. Texas. in May of 2003. As long as incentives for human border smuggling persist. we will continue to see people manipulated. abused and. yes. even killed through this deplorable process. 5 1. Pt. 21 28553 As I mentioned earlier and as is clearly evidenced and described. illegal immigration is not a victimless crime. and H.R. 4437 goes a long way to combating it on multiple fronts. from the provision against illegal immigrants themselves to those who would either incentivize or aid them in illegally entering this country. First. Mr. Speaker. this bill will make illegal immigration into this country a felony offense. thereby increasing the penalties for jumping the border. H.R. 4437 will combat the economic incentives for illegal immigration by transferring the current employment verification system that validates Social Security numbers from a voluntary program to a mandatory program. Ei 1145 This bill also would increase civil and criminal penalties for those employers who knowingly and repeatedly employ or hire an illegal worker. Further. this bill would mandate detention for all aliens apprehended at the border while also stiffening the penalties for aliens already removed once from this country who try to reenter. Additionally. H.R. 4437 would increase existing and establish further mandatory minimums for alien smuggling and would vigorously combat through deportation members of alien street gangs. From the border to the street of every city. this bill takes a holistic approach to reforming our immigration laws. strengthening our border in defense of our country against a very real threat to not only American security but also. Mr. Speaker.