Speech #1090098839

I thank the distinguished gentleman from Wisconsin for yielding me time and for his extraordinary leadership of the Judiciary Committee on which I serve. I also congratulate Chairman KING for his hard work on this important legislation. As the grandson of an Irish immigrant. I believe in the ideals that are enshrined on the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. America has always and will always be a welcoming Nation. welcoming under the law any and all with the courage enough to come to this shining city on a hill. But a nation without borders is not a nation. and across this country Americans are anxious about the security of our border. Night after night they see news images of people sneaking across the border in the dark of night. they hear tales of people paying thousands of dollars to socalled "coyotes" to smuggle them into the country. they worry that drugs will make their way into the hands of their children more readily. and they rightly fear that our porous borders make it more likely that terrorists will cross with deadly intentions against our families. This year alone. some 115.000 illegal aliens from countries other than Mexico have been apprehended by our Border Patrol. and simply as an ordinary American. I share this concern. That is why I support the legislation before us today. Estimates vary. but it is generally accepted that around 11 million illegal aliens are living in our Nation today. The great majority of these people entered America by making an illegal border crossing. We cannot allow this trend to continue. In todays legislation. the Department of Homeland Security is required to develop and submit to Congress a comprehensive strategy for securing the border. including surveillance plans. a timeline for implementation. 1.000 additional port of entry inspection personnel. 1.500 additional canine units and beyond. Also. importantly. this legislation takes a giant step towards ending the current practice of what is known as "catch and release" that plagues the border by requiring mandatory detention of illegal border crossers until an immigration removal hearing can be held. As part of a welldeveloped strategy. the bill mandates that Homeland Security use every available detention bed and authorizes new detention space. Finally. this bill addresses the need to enforce our employment laws by instituting an employer verification system whereby employers will be required to submit information to the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration for verification. Providing this verification system will ensure that only Americans and legal visitors to the United States of America are living and working in our Nation. We have before us today an important first step in securing Americas borders and stopping the flow of illegal immigrants into our Nation. I rise again in strong support of the Border Protection. Antiterterrorism. and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005. With gratitude for its authors. I urge its passage.