Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Mark Dayton today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. I rise tonight to address the legislation, which is before the Senate, the legislation that would establish a fence along the southern United States border. I intend to support this legislation, despite its serious flaws. I agree that a physical barrier is necessary along some parts of our country's southern border.

Last month, I visited southern border communities in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, and I recognize the very serious need for additional security measures there. In El Paso, Texas, for example, there is a fence along the United States-Mexican border for about half the city. But then that fence abruptly ends because, I was told, of lack of funding to extend it. Now that is nonsensical, a security fence that only covers about half of the city that it is supposed to secure.

The day before I toured this area, that one border patrol station in El Paso, Texas, had apprehended 268 people trying to enter our country illegally. That is unacceptable, and that is the reason that I will support this legislation. But it is only part of the solution. I asked border patrol agents across the southern border who are the real experts about what is effective and what is not to protect our border and our citizens, whether a fence was a good idea. They replied that in some places it was and in other places it was not. They said it was one of several additional actions necessary for effective border control. Yet, this is the only measure contained in this legislation. It bears little resemblance to the comprehensive bill that the Senate previously passed to strengthen border security and stop illegal immigration. Its effectiveness, the border patrol experts told me last month, would be severely reduced by the absence of a comprehensive approach. It will further waste taxpayer dollars by mandating a fence where a fence will not be effective. In short, it suffers from the defects of being the hastily drafted, last-minute election ploy that it is rather than the comprehensive, intelligent and effective border security bill that our country needs our citizens deserve.

Mr. President, previous attempts to secure our nation's southern border have failed for precisely this reason. They were only partial steps where only a complete solution will be successful. It's stupid for Congress to pass something that will fail and shameful for Congress to do it for short-term political benefits rather than the long-term national interest. I have no doubt that this legislation will pass and that it will be used by those that benefit between now and the November 7 elections.

So I plead with my colleagues and with the house to finish this job when we return after the elections. Let's have the Homeland Security Committee, on which I serve, and other committees claiming jurisdiction to ask the border security experts themselves what else must be done to make this fence effective. Let's get the House to drop their political pre-election posturing and deal with the present and future realities of our illegal immigration problem by passing key parts of the Senate bill. It's necessary to be tough on illegal immigration, but being tough and stupid is stupid. Let's challenge the House to get tough and smart about protecting our southern border, as President Bush has proposed and as the Senate has enacted.

But let's not fool ourselves and let's not try to fool the American people that this legislation by itself will solve or even substantially reduce the very serious flood of illegal aliens crossing our southern border. This bill is also incomplete and inadequate because it does nothing to strengthen our national security along our country's northern border, even though that border spans 5,500 miles and is over three times longer than our 1,800 mile southern border. Our northern border has not as yet experienced the same volume of illegal traffic as the southern border, yet it is even more unguarded and, thus, unprotected.

There are over 11,000 border patrol agents stationed along our 1,800 mile southern border. And the major training facility for all of them is located in New Mexico. But there are only 950 agents along our entire northern border and no training facility devoted to that specialized training. So I'm very pleased that the Fiscal 2007 Homeland Security Appropriations bill directs 10 percent of its funding and 10 percent of the new agents hired to be committed to our northern border. That's almost $38 million and over 150 new border patrol agents, which is most of what my amendment that was adopted by the Senate would accomplish. It's a 15 percent increase in the number of northern border patrol agents. It's an essential first step in the right direction. However, it is only a first step. Much more must be done and hopefully will starting to done when we return in November.

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