Madam Speaker. I want to thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. Madam Speaker. immigration and border security are not new issues. These issues have been around for a while. They are serious issues. but they have been issues that have been ignored by this Republican leadership and this Republican Congress for years. Notwithstanding the fact that President Bush has challenged us to come up with comprehensive immigration reform. which also includes tight border security. and notwithstanding the fact that this Congress passed what I believe is an objectionable immigration reform bill and the Senate has passed a more acceptable immigration reform bill and we are supposed to go to conference and work out the differences and produce a comprehensive immigration reform bill. as the President has requested. the leaders of this House have chosen to do nothing. not a thing. So while many of us may disagree on some of the issues. this is a high priority for all Members of Congress. But some of us are questioning. why not do what we are supposed to do? Why not go to conference and work out the differences and come out with a comprehensive immigration reform bill that deals with border security and that deals with the issue that a lot of people are concerned about. what do you do with the 12 million people here in the United States who are undocumented? Madam Speaker. the rule before us and the bills that will be considered if this rule is adopted is not about border security and immigration. That is not what we are doing here today. For those who are watching. this is not about real legislative progress.
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undocumented border security immigration