SECURING THE BORDERS AND REFORMING IMMIGRATION WITHOUT AMNESTY

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. We have a national security crisis along our borders. Congressman Pence and I are here today to announce a plan that we believe will secure our country's borders and repair our immigration system. It is not meant to be the end result of a conference committee but is intended to be a starting point that we hope will bring the House and the Senate to the table.

We have served in our respective houses of Congress for a combined total of 19 years, and there has never been an issue on which our colleagues have been so engaged - and yet so far apart - as on illegal immigration and border security.

Congress cannot walk away from a problem that so affects our country's future. It is imperative that we find a responsible solution and enact comprehensive reform. The House and the Senate immigration bills are miles apart, and neither is in the best interests of our county.

Over the past several weeks, I have been honored to get to know and to work with Mike Pence. Since these bills were passed, Congressman Pence and I have met with leaders representing all sides of this important issue. From these discussions, we have crafted the Hutchison-Pence Good Neighbor SAFE Visa plan. But first, we must secure our border.

The millions of people who come to America in search of jobs to support their families are not a security threat to our nation. But there are weaknesses in our 7,000 miles of international border. These weaknesses have given terrorists, drug dealers and human traffickers an opening that is being exploited. We cannot allow this to continue.

To secure our border, our plan calls for substantial increases in personnel, including thousands of Border Patrol agents, port of entry inspectors, immigration and customs enforcement officials, plus additional U.S. Marshals and Drug Enforcement agents. Equipment and infrastructure such as detention facilities, helicopters, power boats, fencing and other physical barriers, as well as advanced technology, are among the necessary resources provided by our plan to close the gaping holes along our borders.

Only after our borders have been declared secure will our temporary worker program begin. This program is called the Good Neighbor SAFE Visa. (SAFE stands for Secure Authorized Foreign Employee.) The Good Neighbor SAFE Visa offers non-citizens opportunities to fill jobs left vacant by America's labor pool.

Under our plan, the estimated 12 million people currently residing illegally in America can come out of the shadows. They will have an opportunity to earn a fair living by returning to their home countries to apply for a Good Neighbor SAFE Visa.

Our plan would accomplish this by setting up a system of private worker placement agencies (called "Ellis Island Centers"), licensed by the federal government, to match willing temporary workers with jobs that employers cannot fill with American workers. The private agencies also would perform a health screening, fingerprint the guest workers and provide that information for a federal background check. They could then come to America legally provided they meet the visa requirements. Residents of NAFTA and CAFTA-DR countries will be eligible to participate in this program.

SAFE Visa participants will not be eligible for Welfare, Social Security, or Medicare. All paycheck deductions will be made as for American citizens. Workers' Medicare contributions will go into a fund to compensate hospitals for emergency medical expenses incurred treating uninsured foreign workers. Their Social Security deductions will be returned when a participant exits the program, while employer Social Security contributions will remain in our country's system.

Good Neighbor SAFE Visas will provide businesses seeking to hire foreign workers with a secure method of confirming their legal status. If a temporary worker is fired, convicted of a crime, or just disappears, the card will be cancelled, preventing someone else from hiring the worker. Two years after our program begins, employers will be required to verify the eligibility of all new employees, including temporary workers. Those who continue to hire unverifiable employees will be subject to stiff fines. These requirements will help eliminate the shadow workforce that currently exists in our country.

Our proposal enhances national and economic security by protecting our border and creating a sound temporary worker program based upon free market principles. There are, however, important elements of immigration reform which are not addressed here. For instance, we need to entice the world's brightest young minds to continue pursuing education and employment in America and we need to provide additional H1B visas. The broad level of support in the Senate for PACE legislation is a strong expression of how important these elements of comprehensive reform are, and I look forward to addressing them in that context.

We have a historic opportunity to repair our immigration system. Congress owes it to the American people to solve this crisis. There are strong emotions on all sides - but we cannot shirk our responsibilities. Leaders must step forward to help shape this debate. The Hutchison-Pence Good Neighbor SAFE Visa program attempts to protect our national security while providing benefits to our country for generations to come.

In the remaining weeks of this Congress, we urge our colleagues to produce a workable system. The future of our country depends on it.

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