Speech #1090119573

Law is at the center of our democratic traditions. Without proper law enforcement. written laws mean nothing. Failure to enforce certain laws. including our immigration laws. gives people the impression that the Federal Government will fail to enforce other laws. That tradition of the rule of law and enforcement is an essential component to comprehensive immigration reform. A recent poll conducted by the Washington Post and ABC News found that the huge majority of Americans agrees with what I am saying. Four in five Americans think the Government is not doing enough to prevent illegal immigration. with three in five saying they strongly hold that view. The same poll found that 56 percent of Americans believe illegal immigrants have done more to hurt the country than to help it. while only 37 percent believe illegal immigrants help the country. But the key is the illegal nature of that activitynot our proud tradition of legal immigration. Of course. this issue of the rule of law and the explosion of illegal immigration also has a very important national security component. particularly since September 11. Adequate border security and enforcement of our immigration laws was an issue on September 11. It goes directly to the terrorist attacks. It goes directly to our war on terror. In its report. the 9/11 Commission itself found weaknesses in immigration enforcement could have facilitated those terrorist acts. The Commission stated: . . . our investigation showed that two systematic weaknesses came together in our border systems inability to contribute to an effective defense against the September 11 attacks: A lack of welldeveloped counterterrorism measures as part of border security. and an immigration system not able to deliver on its basic commitments. much less support counterterrorism. Other studies have shown that 15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers. including Mohammed Atta. should have been denied visas. At least three of them overstayed their visas. Clearly. lax enforcement was an important part. sadly. of that tragedy. There are also other issues within the country related to illegal immigrationnot our proud tradition of legal immigration but illegal immigration. First. it is very important to say we are talking about millions upon millions of people. 11 to 13 million by most estimates. even more by some. It is important to say the great majority of those people are not dangerous criminals.