FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 30, 2006

Isakson: No Guest Worker Plan
Until Department of Homeland Security Certifies That U.S. Border Is Secure
‘Before we address any other issues, we must secure and seal our borders’  

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) today announced that he is seeking to amend the immigration reform legislation currently being debated on the Senate floor to prohibit implementation of any guest worker program until the Department of Homeland Security certifies in writing that U.S. borders are sealed and secured.

“The people of this country are looking to us to secure our borders for the homeland and for immigration. We must secure them first before we do anything else,” Isakson said on the Senate floor. “Those reforms that involve guest workers must only be implemented after the certification by the Secretary of Homeland Security that our borders are secure.”

Isakson’s amendment would prohibit the implementation of any guest worker program until the Secretary of Homeland Security certifies in writing to the President and to Congress that the border is sealed and secure. Isakson offered the amendment this morning, and the Senate was expected to vote on it in the next several days.

Isakson cited the 1986 amnesty program created by President Ronal Reagan that granted amnesty to 3 million illegal immigrants but failed to appropriate the funds necessary to secure the border. The result, Isakson said, was that millions more immigrants flooded into the United States illegally and now are straining our schools, our hospitals and our local jails.

“I will fight as hard as I can to see to it that whatever passes this United States Senate requires first and foremost the securing of our border before the extension of any guest workers or creation of any new guest worker program,” Isakson said. “If we don’t, we’ll have recreated the problem we created in 1986. We will deal not with just 3 million illegals coming, but millions and millions and millions more – all because we looked the other way.”

Isakson also planned to introduce other amendments to beef up security along the U.S. borders that mirror the provisions of a border security bill he introduced on March 9. That bill, S.2394, provides increased manpower, equipment and technology to secure the U.S. border and stop the influx of illegal immigration, including a provision to provide more than $450 million to acquire and maintain a squadron of at least 25 unmanned aerial vehicles with high-tech sensors and satellite communication. This would allow coverage on the border by an unmanned vehicle 24 hours a day. Currently, there is only one unmanned aerial vehicle operating along the U.S.-Mexico border.

On Feb. 22, Isakson led a Congressional delegation to the U.S.-Mexico border, which included stops in San Diego, Fort Huachuca, Ariz., and Manzanillo, Mexico. In Arizona, Isakson viewed the one and only unmanned aerial vehicle operated by Customs and Border Protection. This one vehicle is flown along the border and can detect individuals trying to come across the border illegally. The border protection agents then use the signals from this detection system to catch these illegal immigrants and to stop them from entering the U.S. On the border at San Diego, Isakson was present when scanners detected a pickup truck with a false bed concealing 13 illegals.

Please click here to read Isakson's entire speech.

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