Speech #1090179808

I supported an amendment to the comprehensive reform bill that authorized 370 miles of triplelayered fencing and 500 miles of vehicle barriers along the southwest border. And I supported $1.8 billion in funding for the construction of that fencing and 461 miles of vehicle barriers. I supported construction of this fence because I believe that it is a critical part of comprehensive immigration reform. But no one in a million years thinks this is the answer. No one in the world thinks Congress should pass this fig leaf and call it a day. If you address the reasons why Immigrants come into our countrytheir ability to find work with a relatively small chance of getting caughtas well as how they come in. then increased fencing makes much sense. Fencing alone simply cannot work. You dont have to take my word for it. Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona. a border State where much of the illegal border crossings occur. said this about the fence proposal: You show me a 50foot wall and Ill show you a 51foot ladder ... Thats the way the border works. September 29. 2006 CONGRE Consider the words of the former Secretary of Homeland Security. Tom Ridge. He said: Trying to gain operational control of the borders is impossible unless our enhanced enforcement efforts are coupled with a robust Temporary Guest Worker program and a means to entice those now working illegally out of the shadows into some type of legal status. .... [E]ven a welldesigned. generously funded enforcement regimen will not work if we dont change the immigration and labor laws that regulate how wouldbe workers can come to the United States. What he is saying is that only comprehensive immigration reform. such as S. 2661. will actually fix our immigration problem. And. you know what? His former boss. the President of the United States. would agree. Speaking in the Oval Office just days before the Senate passed S. 2611. the President said: An immigration reform bill needs to be comprehensive because all elements of this problem must be addressed together. or none of them will be addressed at all. Current Secretary of Homeland Security. Michael Chertoff. also endorses comprehensive immigration reform: For [our] Secure Border initiative to be fully effective. Congress will need to change our immigration laws to address the simple laws of supply and demand that fuel most illegal migration and find mechanisms to bring legal workers into a regulated. legal Temporary Worker Program. while still preserving national security. Perhaps most importantly. the people on the ground in the front lines of the immigration struggle tell us that only comprehensive immigration reform can work. As Jeffrey Calhoon. deputy chief patrol agent for the Yuma sector of the Border Patrol said: We need a comprehensive immigration reform that provides additional resources for border security. establishes a robust interior enforcement program and creates a temporary worker program. A vote cast in favor of this fencein the absence of comprehensive reformis a vote cast in favor of a piecemeal approach that we know will fail. is a vote cast against comprehensive immigration reform. That is what this vote is about. As my friend Senator SPECTER. said. voting for the Secure Fence Act will undermine our chance to enact comprehensive reform.