Press Release
JULY 5, 2006
CONGRESSWOMAN SUSAN
DAVIS'S OPENING STATEMENT
AT SAN DIEGO IMMIGRATION HEARING
Congresswoman Davis provided the following opening statement at the San Diego field hearing of the Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation of the House International Relations Committee. The subject of the hearing was "Border Vulnerabilities and International Terrorism" and was held on Wednesday, July 5, 2006.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I am pleased to be here and welcome my colleagues to San Diego. I can't stress more strongly the depth of emotion I hear and feel when I talk to residents of this community about the issues we are discussing today. The commotion going on outside this hearing room right now illustrates that. Like all San Diegans are, I am hoping that Members will raise legitimate questions - questions that transcend "talking points" and provide us with new insight that will contribute to genuine decision making. For me, I have fundamental questions:
- What are the most effective, realistic, and workable ways to keep our doors closed to those who are unwelcome?
- How do we shut out terrorists and WMD?
- How do we stem the flow of undocumented workers?
- How do we take information and intelligence and share it safely amongst the professionals who are working to protect our borders?
- What kind of cost benefit analysis should be performed for the various approaches?
- Are we willing to commit the necessary resources so these are not more solutions done "on the cheap" -- without any real hope of success?
I am not a member of the International
Relations Committee, Mr. Chairman, but I know from experience that
you do good work. There are many issues your Subcommittee considers
that overlap with what I deal with regularly on the Armed Services
Committee, and I think the two committees generally complement each
others' work and could even do so more effectively. As a procedural
concern, however, I do not agree with the way these
politically-charged field hearings have been approached.
President Bush recently stated that "harsh language and unnecessary
politics send the wrong message about who we are as a nation." The
American people look to committees in Congress to do the jobs
assigned them, and they look to this committee to deal with our
foreign policy and the Department of State. I have a feeling that
this was not your personal choice. Nevertheless, I fear that this
morning's hearing will be the first in a series of events more
closely resembling productions of partisan theatrics rather than
serious deliberations of some very important policy priorities. I
truly hope our discussions can transcend such trivial dynamics and
enter the realm of genuine policymaking. In other words, I'm hoping
that we can just do our jobs here today.
I am proud to be here representing many of the people of the City of
San Diego. For years, we have been asking these very questions.
For years, we have been asking for more resources. And for years,
the answers from the Republican leadership in Washington have lacked
direction and substance. Instead, we have been subjected to sound
bites that sound like a broken record. All we've heard is empty
rhetoric and far too little action and follow through.
Since serving in Congress, I have had
opportunities to see for myself just how many of border
vulnerabilities San Diego shares with countless other communities
across the country. Earlier this year, some of my colleagues and I
visited various places along the Southern Border to better
appreciate the unique needs communities close to the border face.
There has been widespread concern amongst my colleagues in this
regard, and many attempts to start addressing them.
Today, nearly five years since 9/11, we still have an insufficient
federal commitment to border agents. We see little commitment to
resources or technology. We have little to no commitment from the
White House to enforce immigration laws in the workplace. What we
do have is the Republican Party in charge of a federal
government that just doesn't seem to get it, even despite the
clarity with which the bipartisan 9/11 Commission charted a course
toward greater security for Americans in this context.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to place in the record a recent editorial from the San Diego Union-Tribune acknowledging some very good comments on this that were made by our first witness here today. I think the question in most San Diegans' minds today is, quite simply, where have the President and Congress been? Washington leadership has taken far too long to get on a plane and come see for itself the situations we are facing on the ground in San Diego.
Mr. Chairman, I submit to you and the rest of my colleagues here today that truly successful border security needs to be tough, smart and fair. It should combine strong enforcement with other changes to the related systems to make it realistic enough to address America's long-term security, stability and prosperity.
Further, I submit that the most productive place for us to start is by finding common denominators for our policy goals as a nation. There certainly seems to be a solid consensus among us on at least a couple points -- our current systems designed to provide border security are broken and repairs are long overdue. With an estimated 11 million undocumented people in our country and an average of 500,000 more arriving each year, we simply must take a more proactive stance to ensure future traffic over our borders is controlled, normalized and safe.
This is a serious problem - hopefully serious people who truly want to solve it will be central to the debate. There should be a shared responsibility for success and failure.