Speech #1090171371

Speaker. I rise to speak on H.R. 6061. the Secure Fence Act. Although I voted to pass this bill to demonstrate my support of strong border enforcement. it is yet another example of the House Republican leaderships piecemeal approach to immigration reform. Americas immigration system is broken. but instead of implementing comprehensive. commonsense solutions such as increasing the number of border agents. funding more detention beds and enforcing current immigration law. House Republicans have chosen to manipulate this issue for partisan political purposes. In December of 2004 I voted in favor of H.R. 10. the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Implementation Act. This bill. which passed the House on a vote of 282134 and which the President signed into law on December 17 of that year. authorized Customs and Border Patrol to hire 10.000 new border agents over the next 5 years as well as add 35.000 detention beds to hold illegal immigrants while they are being process for deportation. Although the bill passed overwhelmingly. House Republicans refused to back up this important legislation with the necessary funds to implement the provisions. The President. who signed the bill into law. only provided funds for 210 border agents in his fiscal year 2006 budget request. The United States cannot secure its borders with only physical barriers. We can only achieve effective immigration reform and border security through a combination of consistent enforcement of current immigration law. the addition of the thousands of additional border security personnel that Congress has already authorized. and the implementation of a fair. balanced immigration plan that encourages lawfulness. rewards hard work and safeguards families.