Speech #1100054114

If you represent a State such as Arizona. on the border with Mexico. you simply cannot continue to ignore the problem. hoping it will go away or some magical solution will be developed that everyone can support. You realize you are going to have to get in there. fight like heck to do the best you can. and get the problems resolved. even though the solution is not going to be perfect from anyones perspective. Here is what is happening every day: Thousands and thousands more illegal immigrants are pouring across the border. We wish to stop that. We have crime and violence increasing at an unprecedented rate. much of it due to illegal immigration. The drug smugglers are using the illegal immigrants as decoys to try to get the agents to chase the illegal immigrants so they can bring the drugs across. Because the Border Patrol is getting much more effective at controlling the border now. the violence is increasing because the people smuggling immigrants and drugs are finding their territory is now being contested by the Border Patrol. They are fighting back. They are fighting back with weapons. including large caliber weapons. This violence is a scourge not just at the border but on our society as a whole. We had a shootout on the freeway between Tucson and Phoenix. where two rival gangs were fighting over a load of illegal immigrants. Why? Because those illegal immigrants represented more potential income for whoever controlled them. They are essentially kidnapped and ransomed. and their families back In El Salvador. Mexico. or wherever they are from. are contacted and are told if they want their relatives to be freed. they have to pay additional money. As a result. a lot of money is paid and there is a lot of violence. The harm perpetrated on the immigrantsand. frankly. the harm perpetrated by some of the coyotes and smugglers and other criminals crossing the borderis infecting our State to an unacceptable degree. Last year. over 10 percent of the illegal immigrants coming across the border from Mexico were criminals. people wanted for serious crimes. These are not just nice people wanting to work in the U.S.. though that is far and away the majority of them. It is a national security problem.