Speech #1090173779

One of those measures sent from the House is this legislation to build fences across specific sections of our southern border. The cost of these fences is conservatively estimated at $2.2 billion but could easily double. And for this price America will be no more secure. its borders no more protected. and illegal immigration still out of control. As the ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. I am more focused on protecting Americans from harm than I am on any other issue. Effective border security is a vital national prioritynot just to stop the flow of illegal immigration into this country. but also to keep terrorists and criminals from entering the U.S. through our airports and seaports. and across our land borders. We will continue to push for better border security. but this is not the way to do it. The money spent on this bill could be used in much more effective ways to bolster our borders and strengthen our security. In fact. Congress has already significantly expanded funding for border securityfor Border Patrol officers. detention beds. and new equipment and technology. This year the Senate already provided the Department with funds to build sections of fence where it makes a differencein heavily populated areas. But an additional few hundred miles of fence along small portions of our vast desert border will do virtually nothing to stop illegal immigration. Building a few more sections of fence and saying we have solved the problem of illegal immigration doesnt make sense. The President said it himself in a speech days before the Senate passed Its immigration bill in May. He said: An immigration reform bill needs to be comprehensive. because all elements ofthis problem must be addressed together. or none of them will be solved at all. That is what the Senate did. And we are on the verge of losing this historic opportunity to address this border challenge the American people expect us to fix. Lets remind ourselves of what is contained in the Senates immigration billand lets be proud of our work. The Senate legislation authorized extensive enhancements of border security and immigration enforcementmany more Border Patrol officers. immigration agents. detention beds. new technologies. and new legal authorities. The Senate bill cracks down on unscrupulous employers who would hire and exploit undocumented workers. by creating verification systems that would leave those employers no excuse for hiring the undocumented and punish them if they do. 52. Pt. 14 18947 But what made the Senate bill so forward looking was our bipartisan decision that an enforcementonly bill would not solve the problem of illegal immigration. To control future immigration. we also created a guest worker program that will channel future immigrants into legal avenues. where they will be screened to make sure they pose no threat to public safety and will not take jobs from American workers. And for immigration reform to work we had to squarely face the fact that there are approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants already working in the United States. Many have lived here for years and have children who were born in this country and are American citizens. We wisely decided that criminalizing these 11 million people was not going to happen. We couldnt jail that many people. We couldnt deport that many people. We knew that the vast majority of undocumented immigrants living in this country came here to work hard. support their families. pay their taxes and obey the law. Those are the kind of people we want here. Yes. they are here illegally and that cant be treated lightly.