Speech #1090100524

Mr. Chairman. I rise with serious concerns over this legislation. which although it does address some illegal immigration problems is woefully weak on real substance. I fear that should this bill become law as is. six months or even a year down the road we will see no substantial improvement on the critical issue of deporting illegal aliens and protecting our borders. Some measures in the bill sound good. but are in effect superfluous. Do we need new legislation requiring the Department of Homeland Security to achieve "operational control of the borders"? Shouldnt the federal government already have "operational control of the borders"? Here is a road map for real immigration reform. First we need better enforcement of the laws weve gotwhich plainly call for illegal immigrants to be arrested and deported and for our borders to be secure. These things are already law. but the executive branch over the past decades has failed to enforce them. Congress can pass any law it wants. but unless federal agencies enforce those laws they are meaningless. Second we need to eliminate the two main magnets attracting illegal immigrants to illegally enter the country. the weltare magnet and the citizenship magnet. Failure to address these in an immigration bill raises questions about achieving real results. That is why I introduced three amendments to this bill. in the hopes that we can finally do something about the problem of illegal immigration. I introduced an amendment to end socalled "birthright citizenship." whereby anyone born on U.S. soil is automatically an American citizen. I introduced an amendment to end the practice of providing U.S. Social Security payments to nonU.S. citizens. And finally I introduced an amendment to prohibit illegal aliens from receiving food stamps. student loans. or other federallyprovided assistance. Unfortunately. none of my amendments were even allowed to reach the Floor for a vote. There are some elements of this new bill to be applauded. Measures to require detention of and expedited removal of aliens. for example. are a good step. Also to be applauded is the requirement for an additional 250 inspectors at U.S. ports of entry each year from 2007 through 2010. although this is unfortunately subject to the availability of funds. But overall this bill is a weak substitute for real immigration and border reform. As the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) says. H.R. 4437 "treats some of the symptoms. it does not. in fact. do enough to actually cure the illness."