Senate Floor Speech
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
October 5, 2005 -- Page: S11140

MRS. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I rise today to address a serious threat facing our Nation--illegal immigration. Despite successful efforts by me and other Members to increase border patrol forces, add new detention facilities, and improve border monitoring, the problem of individuals entering our country illegally continues to impact communities across the country. Just last year, the number of immigrants entering our country illegally outnumbered those entering through legal means. While legal immigration contributes to the diversity and uniqueness of our society, illegal immigration undermines the system and weakens the legitimate process by which people can enter our country. With the Census Bureau estimating that 10 to 11 million people reside in our country illegally, clearly our strategy in confronting this issue must change.

Immigration and naturalization are constitutionally defined powers granted to the Federal Government. As such, many view the issue of immigration as strictly a Federal burden, to be addressed by Federal legislation, policies, and payment. While immigration policy is certainly initiated at the Federal level, one cannot ignore the inherent truth that the impact of illegal immigration is predominantly manifested in our State and local communities, often in the form of overwhelmed emergency rooms, overburdened school systems, and overcrowded prisons. Our local communities often find themselves with little recourse or ability to address the pervasive and crippling effects of a broken immigration system. These effects, of course, are not confined to our southern border regions, but rather they reverberate across the country.

The country's immigration system is long overdue for a comprehensive overhaul, and I commend the efforts being made by a number of my colleagues to generate attention to the need for comprehensive immigration reform. Ideas are being proposed to improve avenues for legal immigration, enhance enforcement capabilities, and address the growing presence of illegal immigrants with nationalities other than Mexican. While I applaud these proposals and eagerly await our opportunity to discuss them, I believe it is essential that we recognize the role our State and local communities can have in addressing illegal immigration, particularly when it comes to the area of enforcement. As such, I am introducing legislation today to solidify the right and opportunity of our State and local governments to enforce the law--immigration law.

Historically, the authority for State and local law enforcement officials to enforce immigration law has been limited to the criminal provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act; these include acts such as physically crossing the border illegally. By contrast, the enforcement of the act's civil provisions, which include apprehension and removal of deportable aliens already in the country, has been strictly a Federal responsibility, with States playing an incidental supporting role. This view was recently reinforced when a community in New Hampshire attempted to prosecute illegal immigrants for criminal trespass but was thwarted when a judge ruled it was constitutionally impermissible, stating that Congress has exclusive jurisdiction on civil immigration issues.

Enforcing the laws of our country should not be confined to Federal authorities when the illegal behavior specifically impacts the State and local communities. Just as State and local officials can arrest, detain, and prosecute for illicit drug violations, so they should be able to for illegal immigration violations. The legislation I propose today would enable State and local officials to arrest, detain, and prosecute illegal immigrants for all Federal immigration violations, both civil and criminal, and would authorize States to create immigration enforcement provisions in accordance with Federal immigration law. My proposal preserves the Federal Government's constitutionally delegated authority to determine immigration status, a determination to which the States would defer. Allowing communities to take enforcement actions based on their own needs, while working within limits set under Federal law, is sound, appropriate policy.

Further, in order to strengthen border security and reduce the strain on local and Federal border officials, my bill allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to create a Volunteer Border Marshal Program The program will assist the Department in securing our borders by using trained, State-licensed peace officers in a volunteer capacity. These volunteers would be assigned to the Border Patrol on temporary missions to identify and control illegal immigration, as well as human and drug trafficking.

In order to properly tackle the problem of illegal immigration, Federal, State, and local authorities must work as partners. Our communities must have the tools necessary to fight it effectively. My legislation will empower States and communities with a new weapon to combat illegal immigration and thereby reinforce our legal naturalization process. I encourage my colleagues to support this sensible approach to addressing this serious problem. I ask unanimous consent that the text of my bill be printed in the Record.