Contact: Aaron Groen
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Bill would restore funding for 700-mile border fence

WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Virginia Foxx joined Representative Walter Jones of North Carolina at a press conference today to call on Congress to pass the Fence by Date Certain Act (H.R. 4987).  H.R. 4987 mandates the completion of a double-layer fence along the U.S.-Mexico border by June 30, 2009.  Rep. Jones introduced the bill this January in order to restore funding to the border fence project and ensure its timely completion. 

Steve Elliott, President of Grassfire.org, presented the signatures of nearly 250,000 citizens who support the Fence By Date Certain Act to the members of Congress present at the press conference.  Foxx also made the following remarks at today’s press conference:

“We cannot solve our illegal immigration problem if we don’t enforce our laws and police our border. 

“Congress took decisive steps in 2006 to staunch the flow of illegal immigrants by passing the necessary legislation to build a border fence.  But this past winter this law was hijacked and stripped clean of requirements to build the fence.  The Fence By Date Certain Act remedies this national security disaster by requiring the construction of 700 miles of double-layer fence along the border, to be completed by June 30, 2009.

“I commend my friends Mr. Jones and Mr. King for championing this important legislative fix to our border fence problem.  I know from hearing from constituents back in North Carolina’s Fifth District that they have had it with illegal immigration and the poor enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws. 

“This important grassroots petition that we are presenting to Congress today, with its nearly 250,000 signatures, is a clarion call to meaningful action on illegal immigration.  As a nation we cannot tolerate the widespread flaunting of America’s immigration laws.  Illegal immigration fundamentally undermines our national security, our sovereignty and our centuries-old foundation of the rule of law. 

“Today we have more than 12 million illegal immigrants in America.  The longer we wait to take decisive action and fix our broken immigration system, the longer the problem of illegal immigration will persist and erode our national security.  The Fence by Date Certain Act is an important step in the right direction and we must bring it up for an up or down vote this year. 

“Our border lacks adequate security and we simply cannot afford to wait any longer to pass this legislation.  So I call on Speaker Pelosi and the House Democrat leadership to schedule a vote now on the Fence by Date Certain Act.” 

Read more:
 Untangling the mess of immigration reform
 The Issues: Immigration