Speech #1090098637

I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker. the number one issue my constituents raise with me at town hall meetings is the need to strengthen our border security by cracking down on illegal immigration. Why? Our current immigration system is broken. and the American people expect us to secure our borders. We have 11 million illegal aliens in the United States. Illegal aliens continue to enter the U.S. from the Mexican border at the rate of 8.000 per day. Last year. our border patrol agents arrested 1.2 million illegal aliens attempting to enter the United States. Significantly. 155.000 arrests of illegal immigrants were from countries other than Mexico. They included illegal immigrants from Iran. Iraq. Afghanistan. This poses a very serious national security problem according to the testimony of CIA Director Porter Goss before the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 17 of this year. Our law enforcement authorities believe that the mass movement of illegal aliens across the porous MexicanU.S. border offers the perfect cover for terrorists seeking to enter the U.S.. especially since tighter controls have been imposed to airports. Li 1215 For example. when we go to the airport. our names are checked against the terrorist watch list. We have to produce a photo ID. we remove our shoes. we walk through a metal detector. and we send our briefcase and luggage through an xray machine to check if there are any weapons or explosive devices. Of course. this does not happen to 8.000 illegal aliens who enter the U.S. every day from the Mexican border. There are no terrorist background checks. no photo ID checks. no shoe removal. no metal detectors. and no xray machines for bombs or weapons. In addition to threatening our national security. illegal immigration places a crushing burden on the American taxpayers who end up getting stuck with a tab for over $45 billion a year for the health care and education of illegal aliens. Mr. Speaker. we must get serious about strengthening our border by cracking down on illegal immigration. Good fences make good neighbors. but that is only a start. We need to build more fences. hire more border patrol agents. use unmanned aerial drones to enforce the border. authorize our local sheriffs to enforce our immigration laws. and hold our employers accountable for knowingly hiring illegal workers. This bill is a step in the right direction. I urge my colleagues to take positive action today to secure our borders.