Speech #1100145645

Tennessee. and Virginiahave all signed memorandums of understanding with the ICE agencies. and nearly 600 officers have been trained. But that is just a small fraction of the potential that is out there. Over the past 2 years. these officers have been credited with identifying more than 37.000 people with possible immigration violations. State and local law enforcement agencies that voluntarilynobody is mandated under thisoffer their services to help enforce Federal laws should be supported and affirmed. The training we require them to receive should be paid for. and the expenses they incur while assisting the Federal Government in enforcing our immigration laws should be reimbursed. So increasing this funding would be helpful. My final point would be to the USVISIT system. Researchers at the Pew Hispanic Center estimate that as much as onehalf of the illegal alien population was admitted legally. Other numbers are about 40 percent. They come here on some sort of visa or legitimate crossing card but they just stay and do not return. We dont know who the visa overstayers are because we dont record when visa holders leave or even if they do ever leave. Until the USVISIT exit system is put into place. we are never going to be able to identify visa overstays. This system was first required 10 years ago. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 required an automated entry and exit data system that would track the arrival and departure of every illegal alien as they crossed our borders. Following the September 11 attacks. Congress repeated the mandate. Several provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act. the Border Security Act of 2002. and the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 require the immediate implementation of the automated entry and exit data system and call for enhancements in its development. On September 2005. DHS announced that it would have the entry portion of the USVISIT system installed at the land border ports of entry by December 31. 2005.