Speech #1140087882

As the proud son of EdCouch. Texas. I am surprised by news reports that depict the border as violent and "in crisis." Unlike the fear mongers who wish to scapegoat all our problems on immigrants. when I talk about the border. I know what I am talking about. First. our border communities are some of the safest in our nation. providing great quality of life with the low crime rates. In fact. state and federal crime data show that border cities are safer than many larger U.S. cities. with violent crime rates remaining the same or dropping in the last five years. Moreover. the idea that undocumented immigrants are more likely to commit crimes is simply false. A Texas Tribune analysis of incarceration and immigration records found there is little evidence that undocumented immigrants commit crime at higher rates than the general population and they appear to be underrepresented in Texas prisons. As a matter of fact. the U.S.-Mexico border has never been more secure in the history of the United States. In the past ten years. border security funding has tripled and we have doubled the size of the Border Patrol from about 10.000 agents to approximately 20.000 today. Second. our border is not being overrun. We are seeing record low apprehensions at our southern border. Today. a majority of those apprehensions are immigrants from Central America who fear violence in their home countries and their only hope is to seek refuge in the United States. Our great nation is made up of immigrants. many of whom landed on our shores tired. poor and in huddledmasses. yearning to be free. We should not close our borders and turn back on them now. That is not who we are.