Speech #1090123806

President. we are getting close to decision time on this particular amendment. Just to review very briefly where we are on the issues that are before us. I think all of us in this Chamber understand that we are making progress on an extremely difficult and complex issue. that is. the issue on immigration reform. There are strong emotions. strong feelings. and strong beliefs on a variety of different aspects of immigration reform. but one which I believe has total support in this body is that what we do need to do is be able to control our borders. and to be able to do that. we have to be able to make the investment which is going to be necessary to secure our borders. Many of us believe that just in and of itself trying to establish just a border or just a fence in one part of the country is not going to do it. All we have to really do is look at history. We understand that 10 years ago. about 40.000 illegals were coming into the United States. Since that time. we have spent over $10 billion on border security. we have increased the number of border guards by 300 percent. and now we have some 400.000 coming into the United States. It is going to take tough border security. but it is going to take something more in terms of law enforcement in this country for those who are eligible to be able to work and separating out those who are ineligible and also to be able to develop a program of earned citizenship for individuals who are here because they want to provide for their families. to work hard. to play by the rules. and to serve in the Armed Forces. They are prepared to pay a penalty. and they are prepared to go to the back of the line and wait their turn for up to 11 years before they would even be eligible for citizenship. The immigration debate will continue along. and we will get back to it here in the Senate. but there is broad agreement on doing more in terms of our border security. There is some difference in how that should be shaped. but we ought to recognize that we need the resources. we need the $2 billion which is before the Senate. What is completely unacceptable is the tradeoff between trying to deal with and seal our borders and to see a reduction in the support for our military and the armed services in both Iraq and Afghanistan.