Speech #1100145645

He asked that I offer the amendment on the floor and not In the committee. and I agreed to do that. I would like to explain the amendment I have offered. It creates a deficitneutral reserve fund for border security. immigration enforcement. and a criminal alien removal program. It sets aside room In the budget to fully fund existing border security and immigration enforcement programs. It is another statement. Also. the members of this Congress meant what we said when we said we wanted border security and to complete the fence and many other immigration reform measures that we voted on last year. I will talk about that later. We voted on those things. One of the things that is eroding public confidence in this Congress is that we vote for things and we say we are for things and some of them pass and some of them are blocked. but even those that pass dont get carried out. So a Congressman or Senator can say I voted to build a fence. whereas. they may not at all be taking the necessary steps to fund or otherwise ensure that the fence gets built. There are other items that are necessary to create a lawful form of immigration. but that is where we are. This amendment. I think. is another opportunity for the Members of our body to say we are prepared to move forward and do the things that are necessary to follow through on what we promised when we cast votes previously. My amendment is broad. It covers all border security and immigration enforcement programs. But. specifically. it highlights six programs that will need special attention in this years budget cycle. Those programs are: Operation Streamline. the socalled "zero tolerance" prosecution policy for illegal entry now in place and being utilized by the Department of Justice and Homeland Security in 4 of the 20 border sectors. I will go into detail about these later. Then there is the border fence construction amendment that would complete the 700 miles that we voted on. It would maintain the presence of a National Guard at the border. It would provide help and assets to effectively execute the criminal alien removal program. to remove those who have been convicted of crimes. as it is supposed to be. The section 287(g) program. which trains State and local officers. would be expanded. as we voted before to do. And the USVISIT exit portion of the immigration law that was supposed to have been completed in 2005 yet remains uncompleted. I offered this amendment earlier. but I think some objected that the amendment would create openended funding for immigration programs. But this money is not free to be spent. It is not openended in reality. It has to be paid for. Full funding for each of these items can only be approved if the proper committees come up with the proper funds. Simply put. my amendment gives Congress budget flexibility to fund these immigration enforcement programs if we can find a way to pay for them. And we certainly can. These are not that expensive in the scheme of things.