FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, May 12, 2006

Isakson: No Guest Worker Plan Until U.S. Border Is Secure  

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) today reiterated his commitment to border security and announced that he will again seek to amend the immigration reform legislation being debated by the Senate 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. “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 border security investments included in the immigration legislation have been implemented. The Senate is expected to resume the immigration debate next week.

Isakson cited the 1986 amnesty program created by President Ronald 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.”

The text of Isakson's amendment is below:  

“Beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall not implement the new conditional nonimmigrant work authorization or authorizations provided for in this Act that grant legal status or adjust the current status of any individual who illegally enters or entered the United States until the Secretary provides written certification to the President and the Congress that the authorized levels provided for within each section contained in Title I of this Act, and within Section 233 in Title II, are fully met, in place, and fully operational.”

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