Speech #1090119625

I thank the Chair. I rise to address the starting point of any discussion of comprehensive immigration reform. which is security at the border. and then move on to the other significant security aspects of this issue. I believe we need comprehensive immigration reform. which essentially boils down to four things: security at the border. security in the interior of the country. including at the workplace. a temporary worker program to accommodate our employment needs. and a way to deal with the people who are here illegally today. All of those issues need to be addressed. Ideally they should be addressed at the same time. but almost everyone agrees that the starting point is security at the border. What 1 wish to do today is to describe some of the reasons why it is so important for us to focus on that and then to discuss the underlying legislation which significantly deals with that problem. As a result of including provisions of the majority leaders bill and provisions of the CornynKyl legislation in the Judiciary Committees base bill with respect to border security. we have a good start on getting a handle on border security. It is only a start. and it takes years to build out the fencing. to build up the Border Patrol. to add the new aircraft. the UAVs. to install the sensors and cameras. to build the detention space and all the other things that have to be done in a mosaic to gain control of the border. This bill offers a good next step in that regard. I thank the chairman of the Budget Committee. JUDD GREGG. who as chairman of the subcommittee on Appropriations has ensured over the last several months that there Is additional funding available for more Border Patrol agents. more infrastructure at the border and the like. We have actually already started on this problem. but this legislation takes the next step in a significant way. There are a lot of things going on on the border right now that I dont think Americans who are not from a border State would appreciate. I wish to start by talking about those. While it is true that part of the issue before us is the millions of people who have crossed our borders illegally to come here to work. that is only part of the story. Today the border is a violent. crimeprone environmental disaster with people in jeopardy and even our military suffering as a result of illegal immigration. Let me explain. Because we have added more Border Patrol. we are beginning to contest territory that the smugglers used to call their own. They are fighting back. The U.S.