Speech #1100022206

Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I would like to start by congratulating Congressman BILBRAY for his position as head of the Immigration Caucus. I thank him. also. for taking on this tough. but very important. issue. What I wanted to make as a point. Mr. Speaker. was that before 9/11 border security was not seen as a national security matter. But we. as an institution. asked the 9/11 Commission to give us direction. to look at how 9/11 occurred and to suggest steps that we should take. Today. thanks to the 9/11 Commission. we now know that national security must be the number one priority when it comes to border security policy. The commission found that our immigration system has. in their words. "the greatest potential to develop an expanded role in counterterrorism." And I think that still holds true today. The challenge we face for national security in an age of terrorism is to prevent the very few people who pose overwhelming risks from entering or remaining in the United States undetected. And terrorists. unfortunately. have used evasive methods to enter and stay in our country. including specific travel methods and routes over the border. liaisons with corrupt government officials. human smuggling networks. and immigration and identity fraud. This needs to be addressed. It is elementary. It is imperative as well to border security to know who is coming into the country. I dont think anyone today can say with any certainty that we know who is crossing our borders. When I was chairman of the Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation. I held field hearings on the border in San Diego and in Laredo. Texas. One thing that was expressed at these hearings is that the border fence that was built in San Diego is very effective. The double fence on that border. according to the Border Patrol that testified at these hearings about the effectiveness of the border fence. is. as they said. a great force multiplier. The reason they wanted to expand the fence and the reason we passed legislation to do that and included an appropriation of $1.2 billion to do it was partly because the Border Patrol told us that there were over 400 attacks on the Border Patrol and that if they could have that double border fence the way they had it in San Diego at other routes where the smugglers cross. that would help protect them. They said it expanded their enforcement capability. it has allowed them the discretion to redeploy agents to areas of vulnerability or risk. It is one component. they said. that certainly has been integral. in their words. to everything we have accomplished raising the level of our security in San Diego. What happened in San Diego? The crime rates on both sides of that border. which had been lawless. dropped by over 50 percent on the San Diego side and on the Tijuana side. With the establishment of the border fence in San Diego. crime rates fell off dramatically. but also vehicle drivethrus fell off. San Diego is no longer one of the most prolific drug smuggling corridors. It was cut by over 90 percent. The bill that we passed last year puts a fence where it is needed most. in the areas that have the highest instances of drug smuggling. human trafficking. gang activity. All of the smugglers routes. where there are roads. basically. through those areas. all of that will be fenced with a double border fence. It would allow the Border Patrol to better focus its resources and better protect our borders. Now. we have some say that to finish that project would cost $3 billion. Well. $3 billion is less than the cost of the 250.000 inmates who have committed felonies. who are here illegally in the United States. The cost to the taxpayers in one year is more than the cost of building that double border fence. But the focus I want to make here. the point I want to make. it is a matter of national security. We had Kris Kobach testify at my hearings. He was chief adviser on immigration law to former Attorney General John Ashoroft. And he spoke of concern about terrorists illegally crossing our borders into this country. I will just share with you a couple of cases he cited.