Ginny Speaks in Opposition to Amnesty for Lawbreakers

Washington, D.C., May 19 -

Knowing of your keen interest in the immigration reform debate, I want to provide you with an update from Washington on this important matter.

As you know, on Monday, May 15th, President Bush addressed the nation regarding the current debate in Congress to amend our immigration laws.  While I am glad that he has taken up the topic and I applaud many of his points, the President’s speech was insufficient and it sends mixed messages.  He has urged immigration reform, yet he supports the Senate’s “comprehensive proposal,” which offers illegal immigrants the reward of a pathway to citizenship, or “amnesty light.”  Why on earth would we reward those who have broken the law?  If this is the best the Senate can come up with, I firmly believe we should stick to just toughening our border security and interior enforcement first.

In December of last year, the House passed H.R. 4437, the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, by a vote of 239-182.  I was pleased to vote in favor of this bill, which increases surveillance along the border, provides electronic surveillance and a fence along the southern border, adds 8,000 new border agents, authorizes 32,000 new detention beds, and requires employers to use an electronic verification system to check a person’s eligibility to work in the U.S.  Congress must enact reforms such as these long before we create a new guest worker program.  Since you sent me to Washington, I have observed more than once that Congress does not multitask well.  We must therefore deal with this gaping hole in our national security, then look at employers’ claims to need additional sources of workers for jobs Americans won’t do.

However, I do agree with the President’s initiative to station 6,000 National Guard members along the southern border to support our border patrol agents.  The border patrol is in desperate need of help while Customs and Border Protection (CBP) trains the new agents Congress authorized last year.  Just in the last twelve months, border patrol agents detained upwards of 1 million illegal immigrants.  Since January of this year, CBP has had 20,000 illegal immigrants in custody daily.  Particularly at our southern border, agents are often overwhelmed trying to cover the vast miles of desert.  The presence of the National Guard will free up some well-trained CBP agents now assigned administrative functions so they can go back to patrolling the border.  The National Guard brings an excellent resource to help secure our borders, and I look forward to their immediate deployment.

The United States is a beacon of hope to all those striving for a better life; however, our nation’s splendor is cheapened when its laws are broken.  You may be sure I will continue to fight for the excellent, tough, and long overdue securing of our borders in the House bill while opposing amnesty for illegal aliens.