Border Security

Enhancing our nation’s border security is one of the most important steps we can take to protect American citizens. The unregulated flow of people across our borders poses a serious threat to our national security. In fact, the 9/11 Commission pointed to our vast land borders as a potential way for terrorists to gain entry into our country.

Our unsecured borders also allow drug smugglers to bring methamphetamine and other illegal drugs into our communities. While strict laws have helped reduce the number of meth labs in Tennessee communities, the Drug Enforcement Administration reported a 75 percent increase in the amount of meth seized at the U.S.-Mexico border from 2002 to 2004. The DEA now estimates that 65 to 80 percent of all meth consumed in the United States is smuggled from Mexico.

Here are some of the things I have done to help secure our borders:

• Voted to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission;

• Chaired a Science and Technology Committee hearing on the next generation of border security technology;

• Voted for the strong Border Security Act of 2005;

• Co-sponsored the SAVE Act to add U.S. Border Patrol agents and provide them with needed resources;

• Voted to impose tougher sentences on people who finance or construct illegal tunnels into the U.S.;

• Voted to install fencing along key points of the U.S. - Mexico border;

• Urged the President to vigorously enforce our immigration laws to ensure employers do not hire illegal immigrants and undercut American workers.