Mr. President. I rise to urge my colleagues to vote "yes" on the motion to proceed to S. 1639. the immigration reform package. This immigration reform legislation has been long In coming. Immigration has been debated on the floor in the last year for almost a month. We debated it earlier this year for several weeks. It has been the subject of multiple hearings. The fact is this national security problem is not going to go away until the Members of the Senate have the courage to stand up and deal with this issue. The legislation before this body may not be the perfect legislation everybody wants. and there are people who will find fault with the legislation. but at the end of the day. it addresses three fundamental principles we must address on immigration reform. The first of those principles is that it secures Americas borders. and it does that with tough provisions in how we police the borders. the addition of more Border Patrol agents. 370 miles of fencing. 70 groundbased radar and camera towers. 200 miles of vehicle barriers. new checkpoints of entry. and so forth. Second. this law will enforce our Nations immigration laws for the first time. For far too long. for the last 20 years. what has happened is America has looked the other way and turned a blind eye toward the enforcement of our laws in this country. This legislation has significant enforcement provisions in it that will. in fact. be enforced and funded.
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