Speech #1090173320

Madam Speaker. the rule also provides for consideration of H.R. 6095 under a closed rule. It allows 1 hour of debate in the House. equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Judiciary. waives all points of order against consideration of the bill. and provides one motion to recommit H.R. 6095. Madam Speaker. last December the House of Representatives debated and passed H.R. 4437. the Border Protection Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act with a 57vote margin. However. despite phone calls and letters from constituents. our hard work in December met difficulty because some of our colleagues in the other body opted to support an amnesty program that simply cannot be substituted for border security. The need for immigration reform Is critical and long overdue. I remind my colleagues that we need to secure our borders before we consider any other immigration proposal. of which amnesty should never be a part. Just about every congressional district in this country is affected by illegal immigration. not just border States. Securing our borders is not a Democratic versus Republican issue. and it is not about the election in 7 weeks. It is an issue of protecting our Nation and restoring integrity to our system of immigration. If immigration were a Republican issue. 64 Democrats would not have voted last week for the Secure Fence Act. Indeed. we are a Nation of immigrants. but we are also a Nation of laws based on the principles found in the United States Constitution. In 1986. President Reagan pushed for reforms to address the problem of illegal immigration. In 1996. the 104th Congress pushed for more reforms. And now. 10 years later. this Congress once again has an opportunity to debate how to best secure our borders and remove incentives for illegal immigration by enacting these meaningful changes. Today this Congress continues an ongoing and difficult debate. and I want to thank Chairman SENSENBRENNER and Chairman DREIER for the bills being considered under this rule. H.R. 6094. the Community Protection Act of 2006. H.R. 6095. the Immigration Law Enforcement Act of 2006. finally H.R. 4830. the Border Tunnel Prevention Act of 2006. Together. these three bills. along with the Secure Fence Act we passed last week. reaffirm some of the highlights from the Housepassed legislation in December. almost a year ago. By addressing these issues separately. we have a better chance of achieving at least some degree of immigration reform in 2006. Procrastinating or ignoring this problem will simply not make it go away. Every day we put off debating and passing immigration reform creates more and more opportunities for illegal immigrants to break our laws and violate our borders. Each and every one of these offenses has social. economic and. indeed. security repercussions. For instance. according to the United States Census Bureau release last month. there are an estimated 795.419 illegal immigrants who live in my home State of Georgia. almost double the same estimate from 2 years ago. During the August district work period. I had an opportunity to visit some of the more porous areas on our southern border with my colleague Mr. SODREL from Indiana and Mr. PRICE from Georgia. After meeting with Border Patrol and Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents. inspecting the infrastructure. checking out places for improvement. the most important lesson that we learned was that with the right tools and with the right manpower. securing our border can be a reality. and it is not a lost cause. as some would suggest. The morale of these dedicated men and women who are protecting our southern border is at an alltime high. because. as they said to us. Congress is finally paying attention. Some of the improvements needed include more Border Patrol agents. more fencing and uniform penalties for smugglers. it is unbelievable that we dont already have that. and removing the question of jurisdiction for local law enforcement. an issue that my colleague from Georgia. Dr. Norwood. in his CLEAR Act has just emphasized over and over again and. thank goodness. was part of our original bill In December. We also need more onsite immigration judges. we are woefully inadequate in that manpower. border tunnel detection and criminal detention and removal. The three bills we are considering under this bill address many of the problems that Customs and Border Patrol and ICE agents brought to our attention during that August trip to the three sectors of our border with Mexico. The Community Protection Act of 2006 includes language from the Dangerous Alien Detention Act. the Criminal Alien Removal Act. and the Alien Gang Removal Act. One of the most eyeopening moments on my tour of the border was seeing the transport of prisoners at an airport in El Paso. Texas. An airplane landed with prisoners for Mexico and socalled OTMs. other countries south of the border. These individuals were not being held and deported just simply because they had illegally crossed the border seeking jobs. No. these individuals were being sent back to their home countries after serving out sentences in this country for rape. murder. child molestation. and grand larceny. The scenario addressed in H.R. 6094 would involve detaining individuals with similar offenses and also. also. Madam Speaker. in cases of highly contagious diseases and mental illnesses. detaining them longer than current law allows. a 6month limit which begins when they are ordered removed. This legislation would make sure that these criminals are not released back into our society because of that 6month rule to cause serious safety problems in our local communities. Also included in H.R. 6095 Is the Allen Gang Removal Act to deport alien gang members such as MS13 and prevent them from being protected under this outdated asylum law that we are burdened with. It is important to stop these gang members from entering and staying in the United States so that we can make progress toward not only deterring violent crime. but also the spread of the methamphetamine plague. The Immigration Law Enforcement Act of 2006 would reaffirm. indeed. codify. the authority of local law enforcement officers to have jurisdiction in Federal immigration laws. CHARLIE NORWOODs CLEAR Act. Many officers want to enforce immigration law. but they fear repercussions at the Federal level. This language would allow local officers to assist Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents apprehending and removing illegal aliens from our cities and local communities. in essence. Madam Speaker. to deputize them and codify it. Also included in H.R. 6095 is language to end this catchandrelease system that I mentioned earlier and expedite the process of removal of illegal immigrants. The legislation includes the Alien Smuggler Prosecution Act to create uniform guidelines. let me repeat. to create uniform guidelines for the prosecution of smuggling offenses. On our trip to the southern border. we had a night tour at the Arizona sector.