Speech #1090100521

Mr. Chairman. today I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 4437. the Border Security. Antiterrorism. and Illegal Immigration Control Act. This bill is not about border security or terrorism prevention. as the name implies. H.R. 4437 is a onesided. meanspirited approach that will not solve our nations immigration problems. The Republicans are so fearful of real reform that they did not even allow a vote on the Presidents own guestworker program or a bipartisan comprehensive border security and immigration plan. such as the KolbeGutierrez bill. Instead. we are stuck voting on a bill that is opposed by almost every reasonable business. labor. civil liberties. and religious advocacy group in the country. and which has no chance of passage in the Senate. For our own security. it is of vital importance to know who is entering our country and who is here. Our current border policy of "catch and release" is not working. We need real security. but we also need to address the eight to fourteen million undocumented immigrants currently in our country. I am disappointed that this bill veers away from the bipartisan approach that we took in the Homeland Security Committee. While our bill was not perfect.