Speech #1090100530

Mr. Chairman. I am very disappointed in the Border Protection. Antiterrorism. and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005. H.R. 4437. It takes an enforcement only approach at a time when we should be working together on comprehensive immigration reform. and it is full of antiimmigrant provisions that are ill advised and mean spirited. For instance. sections 201 and 203 of the House Judiciary Committeereported version of H.R. 4437 would make all aliens who have at any time been unlawfully present in the United States aggravated felons. This. in turn. would subject them to mandatory detention. generally bar them forever from obtaining asylum. lawful permanent resident status. and eventual citizenship. and subject them to arrest by state and local law enforcement officers. Section 202 would dramatically expand the definition of smuggling and harboring illegal aliens. potentially subjecting even unknowing relatives. good Samaritans. and employers to severe criminal penalties and civil asset forfeiture of real estate. cars. and other property for providing even lifesaving assistance to someone who turns out to be unlawfully present in the United States. Section 305 would permit States to use State Homeland Security Committee grants. Urban Area Security Initiative grants. or Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program grant funds for preventing or responding to the unlawful entry of an alien or providing support to another entity relating to preventing such an entity. In order to be permitted to use such funds for such purposes. a State would have to be carrying out the activity pursuant to an agreement with a Federal agency. Section 501 would make the use of expedited removal mandatory against aliens suspected of having entered the United States without inspection who are neither Mexican nor Canadian. who are apprehended within 100 miles of the U.S. international border. and have been in the United States for 14 days or fewer. Detention facilities are not available to house all of the immigrants who will be subject to mandatory detention under this program. In fact. more than 110.000 aliens were released in FY2005 for lack of bed space. Section 601 would. notwithstanding treaty obligations. permit the U.S. government to send aliens to countries where they are likely to be tortured. Section 602 would permit the government to subject aliens to indefinite detention without there being any charges against the alien. Title VII would require the expansion of the Basic Pilot employment verification program to all employers. requiring that they use it to verify the identity and employment eligibility of each of the 54 million persons that get hired each year and the 146 million persons who currently are employed in the United States. It also would dramatically increase the fines employers face if they hire undocumented workers. It also calls for a study of an enhanced social security card that would contain biometric and other personal information on a magnetic strip that all persons in the country would have to use when seeking employment in the United States. I will just mention one more example. Title VIII contains a provision that would strip courts of the ability to review decisions by immigration officers to deny relief and to deport aliens. including persons whose visas are revoked. persons fleeing persecution. Moreover. it contains a provision in section 806 that would require nonimmigrants coming to the United States temporarily for work. school. or as tourists to waive any right to any review of an immigration officers decision as a precondition to getting a visa. Twenty years of shortsighted. enforcementonly legislation has created the largest illegal population in our nations history and H.R. 4432 is just more of the same. Far from being prosecurity and proenforcement. this bill actually undermines enforcement and security by increasing the population of people here illegally. sweeping under the rug the 11 million here without papers. and ignoring those who will still come to the U.S. because theyre coming to work As the President. Secretary Michael Chertoff. and other key leaders in both parties have said. we cannot enforce our way out of the catastrophe that is our current immigration system. The problem demands a comprehensive. workable answer that restores respect for the rule of law with fair rules that are evenly enforcednot expansive enforcement without hope for success.