Drake Addresses Immigration Reform on the House Floor
Washington,
Mar 29, 2006 -
Congresswoman Thelma Drake (R-VA) gave the following remarks on the House floor:
I would certainly like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to join you this evening to talk about something that is so critical to our Nation.
Tonight, I wanted to talk about the Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act. That is the name of the bill that we passed in December of 2005 in this House.
Unfortunately, at that time there was not any press coverage about that bill. We really were not hearing about it until the Senate took the bill up about a week or so ago.
I know that you [Congressman Price] and I share the same belief, that the very first step in any debate about immigration reform is the need to secure our borders. We believe that our country must be open for trade, tourism, and legal immigration and closed to terrorists, drug dealers, and criminals. But the bill that passed in December, and I think it is important for America to know, a lot of the components that were in that bill, things such as an employment verification system where employers would be required to check Social Security numbers with Social Security and Department of Homeland Security. Today that exists, but it is simply a voluntary program, and we all know the stories about fraudulent documents that are out there.
The bill also includes Increased penalties for alien smuggling, mandatory minimum sentences and increased penalties. A crackdown on alien gang members. They would now be inadmissible and deportable, and our Attorney General can designate certain groups as gang members. It also bans benefits for alien gang members and creates stiffer penalties for aliens who reenter after being removed. It bars aliens with aggravated felony convictions from receiving green cards.
There will be cooperation and reimbursement between our border sheriffs and our Federal law enforcement to reimburse them for the work that they are doing for us. Increased authority for the Department of Homeland Security to detain dangerous aliens. Our courts have prohibited this in the past, and the result is that dangerous aliens have been released. It also provides for the removal of these aliens. It bars terrorist aliens from naturalization. There is increased security for our borders with both military support and Department of Defense surveillance. It requires a comprehensive risk assessment of our ports and land and maritime borders and radiation detection devices. Increased inspectors, 1,000 over a 4-year period, and an additional 1,500 K-9 units over the next 5 years.
Physical barriers, state-of-the-art surveillance technology, including cameras, radar, satellites, and unmanned aerial vehicles. It eliminates the release in our current catch-and-release program, and requires that illegal aliens must remain in custody until removed. It provides for better communication and sharing of information with our law enforcement community and promotes international policies with Canada and Mexico and requires reports back to Congress.
I think these are commonsense solutions that America expects Congress to put into place. But as you have mentioned, our work is continuing; the Senate is now having a very, very active debate. That debate will continue in the House. And I think that we all agree that we must revamp this process but starting with the very first component, which is securing our borders. But we also need to end the lottery that exists, get rid of senseless rules and endless litigation, and we must have a policy in our Nation of catch and return and not our current catch and release. The goal, of course is to stop illegal crossings in the first place. And I think the American people deserve that. They deserve to know that that is what is taking place.
But as we continue with these discussions, one of the discussions that will take place, of course, is what about workforce, what about guest workers?
How should that program be crafted and what should it look like so we know who are the people who are here? Why are they here? What are they doing here? What is their purpose for being here? But as a component of that, I also think it is critical that we deal with the issue of health care and that employers who want these workers in our Nation, and we know there is a tremendous need for them, would have to address that issue of health care right up front and not put that burden on the American people as it has done in the past.
So I thank you for the opportunity just to come and tell America what the House of Representatives did do and that as we continue the debate that they will understand that the first goal is secure our borders. We know this is a national security issue. We know the goal of our enemy is to destroy our Nation, to attack us at any possible turn.
I am grateful to our very brave military men and women who we know are taking out their leaders right now, shutting down their money, and keeping them busy over in Iraq and that they have not had the ability to attack our Nation again. And I think that we expect in Congress and the American people expect that we not allow these people to enter because of poor policies that we have in place; that our doors be open for tourism, for travel, for legal immigration, and closed to those who would do us harm.
And I thank you for arranging this meeting tonight and allowing me to join you in it.
