WASHINGTON – The Senate late Friday passed and sent to President Bush legislation authorizing 700 miles of fencing along the southern border. U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who was the author of bills to both authorize and pay for construction of border fencing, made the following comment:
"With the passage of bills to authorize construction and funding of a fence along our southern border, Congress has taken the first real step toward immigration reform. I have said all along that in order to deal with the issue of comprehensive immigration reform, which I support, we must first secure our borders. This action puts us on a path toward achieving operational control of our borders and shows the American people that Congress has finally gotten serious about fixing our absolutely broken immigration system. Now the government must get busy and complete the construction of border fencing."