Franks' Response to President Obama's Immigration Address
July 1, 2010 — Responding to President Obama's address on immigration today, Congressman Trent Franks (AZ-02) released the following statement:
"It is clear after today's speech that this Administration is not one to let something as pesky as the truth get in the way of a good sound bite.
"In his remarks, President Obama criticized Arizona's recently enacted immigration law, SB 1070, claiming that such laws put 'huge pressures on local law enforcement.' In fact, SB 1070 exists only because the federal government has for years refused to do its job, enforce federal law, and secure our southern border. Indeed, SB 1070 does the opposite of what the President accuses-- in the absence of federal action, it finally frees up local law enforcement to do the job the federal government won't do.
"The President also repeated the tired claim that SB 1070 allows police officers to make stops based solely on a person's race in order to inquire about immigration status. The reality is that the law explicitly prohibits such profiling, only allowing police officers to inquire about immigration status in the process of another 'lawful stop, detention or arrest . . . in the enforcement of any other law or ordinance.'
"Finally, the President's failure to adequately address what must be the foundation of any truly effective immigration reform, particularly in a post-9/11 world-- and that is border security. As many as 40% of those crossing the border illegally are actually from countries other than Mexico. The President and his Administration seem to fail to understand what terrorists do understand-- that our southern border provides the easiest means of smuggling a nuclear or other WMD into the United States, only one of which would be enough to hold an entire American city hostage.
"Any immigration plan that doesn't put border security first is no immigration plan at all."
Congressman Franks is serving his fifth term in the U.S. House of Representatives and is a member of the Judiciary Committee, where he serves as Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution and a member of the Subcommittee on Courts, Commercial and Administrative Law. He is also a member of the Armed Services Committee, where he serves on the Strategic Forces Subcommittee and the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities.
