Speech #1090173398

Madam Speaker. I rise in opposition to H.R. 4830. the Border Tunnel Prevention Act. H.R. 6094. the Community Protection Act. and H.R. 6095. the Immigration Law Enforcement Act. Only in the backward world of Republican campaign strategy would passing more ineffective bills be seen as a way to highlight "progress" on illegal immigration. I hope that the American people ask what happened to the massive immigration bill that the House passed in December. I hope they question why House Republicans are today spending time debating three bills they know the Senate will never consider. The truth is that Republicans arent interested in stopping illegal immigration. If they were. theyd crack down on employers. Or at least make an effort to resolve differences with their colleagues in the Senate. If you define progress by anything other than fearmongering rhetoric. then this Congress is no more likely to secure the border than the Capitol Police are to stop an armed intruder. Because this Republican Congress long ago abandoned the idea of purposeful goveming. they slapped together these three immigration bills without concern for constitutionality or feasibility. No bad idea from a backbench rightwinger was too extreme. If these bills became law: Immigrants could be indefinitely detained at the whim of the Department of Homeland Security. Hey. it hasnt worked at Guantanamo. but why not try it on U.S. soil? The Attorney General could order immediate deportation of anyone deemed to be a member of a designated street gang. regardless of whether members had committed crimes. In other words. hanging around the wrong crowd. at least in the eyes of Alberto Gonzales. would be a deportable offense. Federal courts hearing immigration cases would be instructed that any relief granted to immigrants would have to be the "minimum necessary" and "least intrusive" to govemment agencies. So if the government wrongly jailed you for 20 years. you might get released. but dont expect any compensation for the loss of your livelihood. They say that desperate times call for desperate measures. and the Republican Party is clearly desperate to cling to power.