Speech #1090131554

But we are not talking about that now. We are talking about an entirely different situation. There was a time when oceans and borders protected us and enabled us to better control immigration. That is no longer the case today. In the past decade. we have spenit more than $20 billion to triple our border patrols and build fences. But we have learned that border enforcement alone will not work. Building fences and putting more agents on the border is doomed to fail. It is a strategy that will make us weaker. not stronger. in dealing with immigration. Ten years ago we had 40.000 individuals coming across the border illegally. We have spent $20 billion. and we have tripled the number of border agents. We added $10 billion more in terms of border security. and now we have more than 400.000 individuals crossing illegally. You can estimate. Some will say it is 600.000 or 700.000. Border security enforcement in and of itself will not work. We need an immigration program for the 21st century that is worthy of our heritage as a nation of immigrantsone that is tough. smart and fair. one that sees to our security and reflects our humanity. I believe the compromise legislation before us meets that test. It is four parts. First. it mandates very tough enforcement. It doubles our Border Patrol. builds fences and barriers *along the border. and requires stateoftheart technology in fighting illegal immigration. It increases enforcement against employers who hire undocumented workers. and requires tamperproof immigration documents so that employers can determine who can and cannot work in America. It fully implements a system for keeping track who comes to our country and when they leave. It establishes new penalties against digging tunnels under the border and for evading immigration officials. It sets up a massive new effort to shut down criminal syndicates that smuggle immigrants into the country. It expands the capacity of our immigration detention facilities and grants new authority to detain dangerous immigrants. It provides vast new authorities to identify and remove terrorists and criminals. In the area of border enforcement. those needs are selfevident. We are talking specifically about the border with 12.000 new Border Patrol agents. 2.000 more than were actually requested in the 9/11 Commission. It creates the hightechnology "virtual fence." This is key. Using newer kinds of technology for a "virtual fence." I think it is vastly more effective than putting a chain fence along 1.800 miles of border.