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Secure Fence Act passes House
On September 14, 2006, Rep. Myrick
voted for H.R. 6061, the Secure Fence Act.
This bill would authorize the construction of 700 miles
of double-layered fence along the southwest border in areas
where there are high levels of illegal alien crossings.
For more information, please
click here.
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Myrick Hosted Congressional Field
Hearing on Illegal Immigration
On August 25, 2006,
Rep.
Myrick hosted a field hearing focused on Illegal Immigration
held by the House Committee on Government Reform Subcommittee
on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources.
The
hearing was held in Rep. Myrick's Gaston County Office.
Witnesses included
Alan Cloninger (D- Sheriff of Gaston County), Michael Lands
(R- District Attorney of Gaston County), Jim Pendergraph (D-
Sheriff of Mecklenburg County), and Ms. Emily Moose (Mother of
Scott Gardner). Reps. Myrick, McHenry, Foxx, and
Chairman of the Subcommittee Mark Souder were all in
attendance. More than 200 people attended this hearing,
and listened to testimony about the
287 (g) program and the
Scott Gardner Act. To
read Rep. Myrick's prepared statement, please
click here. To read the
testimony of the other people who participated in the hearing,
please
click here.
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Myrick Launches Petition Drive and Illegal Immigration Action
Plan
On July 17, 2006,
Rep. Myrick held a press conference where she
announced she has worked with several Congressional Leaders,
including Rep. Charles Taylor (NC-11), to fund the expansion
of the national immigration court system in a recently passed
House bill. Rep. Myrick has been working to bring an
immigration court to North Carolina for many years, and this
might be North Carolina’s last chance to get a court in the
foreseeable future. To ensure the Department of Justice
makes the correct decision and places a court in North
Carolina, Rep. Myrick announced she is starting a statewide
petition drive. People from around the state can go to Rep.
Myrick’s website and sign the petition. All petitions will be
delivered directly to the Department of Justice. Rep.
Myrick also unveiled a new
Illegal Immigration Action Plan website
where people from NC can go to find out how they can help in
the fight against illegal immigration. For more
information, please
click here.
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Myrick Hosted Seminar To Help
Prevent The Hiring of Illegal Aliens
On
June 26, 2006, Representative Sue Myrick (NC-9) held a “pilot program”
seminar to show businesses a program that can help them make
sure they are not hiring illegal aliens. Joining Rep.
Myrick was Gerri Ratliff, Chief of the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS) Verification Division, with the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Chief Ratliff came down
from Washington, DC and gave an overview of the DHS
administered basic pilot program. The pilot program is
currently used by thousands of businesses across the U.S. It
assists employers by screening prospective employees, and lets
employers know if the potential worker is an illegal alien and
is using fraudulent documents.
To view the power point presentation Chief Ratliff used,
please click here.
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Myrick
Fights for a NC Immigration Court
On March 30, 2006, Representative Sue Myrick held a press
conference regarding her battle to bring an immigration court
to North Carolina. She was joined by Reps. Walter Jones
(NC-3), Virginia Foxx (NC-5), Patrick McHenry (NC-10), and
Charles Taylor (NC-11). Rep. Myrick believes that the creation
of an immigration court located in North Carolina will address
both the needs of the growing legal immigrant populations, and
the litany of problems the state is experiencing with illegal
aliens. Currently, North Carolina is under the jurisdiction
of the immigration court in Atlanta, Georgia. This means that
North Carolina doesn’t have the full tools and resources to
deport illegal aliens in a expedited manner. For more
information, please
click here.
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New Immigration Program will
allow Mecklenburg County Sheriff Deputies to Detain and Remove
Illegal Aliens
On
February 6, 2006, Representative Sue Myrick,
Mecklenburg County (NC) Sheriff Jim Pendergraph, and U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Special
Agent-in-Charge Jeffrey S. Jordan announced at a press
conference a new program that will federalize ten Mecklenburg
County Deputies so that they can help ICE detain and remove
illegal aliens. This groundbreaking program is the first
of its kind to be implemented by a Sheriff’s office east of
the Mississippi. “This new program changes how North Carolina
responds to illegal aliens,” said Rep. Myrick. “We have
a shortage of federal agents to deal with illegal aliens in
our state, and this program provides us with some much needed
back up. My hope is that every county in North Carolina
sees what we are doing here and applies to set up a similar
program with ICE.”
To
learn more,
click here.
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Myrick's Scott Gardner Act Amendment Passes US House
US
House of Representatives passed Rep. Myrick’s DWI illegal
immigration amendment on December 16, 2005. Rep. Myrick’s
amendment was based on her bill, The Scott Gardner Act. The
amendment states that any illegal alien convicted of a DWI
will face automatic deportation. The amendment passed the
House with no objections and was adopted by voice vote. Both
Representative Mike McIntyre (D-NC) and Representative John
Spratt (D-SC) spoke on the House Floor in full support of this
amendment. The amendment was part of a larger border
security and illegal immigration interior enforcement bill.
To learn more,
click here.
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Myrick Introduces TRUE ID Act
On November 9, 2005, U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick introduced
the TRUE ID Act in Congress. Unbelievably,
North Carolina still accepts a taxpayer identification
number as a valid form of identification when applying for
a drivers license. These tax numbers are nothing more
than a slip of paper the IRS uses to identify workers. They
do nothing to prove the person is who they say they are.
They can be easily duplicated, and illegal aliens
use fraudulent tax identification numbers to get a
NC driver's licenses. Many people believe that we have more
than 300,000 illegal immigrants in North Carolina today
because our state laws governing driver's licenses are lax,
and illegal immigrants come here and
take advantage of this fact. Rep.
Myrick is fighting to make sure North Carolina's state
leaders wake up to this problem. In
order to stop this reckless practice, Rep.
Myrick's bill will strip federal transportation
funding from NC and any other state that continues to issue
drivers licenses based on taxpayer identification numbers. To
hear her comments about this problem,
please click here.
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Myrick Immigration Bills Discussed Nationally
On October 6, 2005, and October 17, 2005, Rep.
Myrick appeared on Lou Dobbs Tonight (CNN). Both interviews
were about immigration bills she has introduced in Congress.
If you did not get a chance to watch the show, please click on
the links below to see the transcripts.
October 7, 2005 Show
October 17, 2005 Show
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Myrick Introduces
Immigration Bills
On September 14, 2005, Rep. Myrick was joined by Rep. Mike
McIntyre (D-NC), who is an original co-sponsor of the Scott
Gardner Act, Scott Gardner's mother, Emily Moose, his cousin,
Donna Lawson, and friends of the family, Will Newman and Heidi
Hall, at a press conference in Washington, DC to introduce the
Scott Gardner Act and the 10K Run for the Border Act. Scott
Gardner was a Social Studies teacher from Gaston County who
was killed by a drunk driver in July. After the wreak, it was
discovered that the driver was also an illegal alien with five
prior DWI convictions.
Click here to read Rep. Myrick's
comments at the Press Conference about the two immigration
bills.
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Rep. Sue
Myrick's Immigration Reform Plan
Recently, Rep. Myrick has spoken out on illegal immigration.
For the sake of clarity, Rep. Myrick outlined a plan that will
help reform our broken immigration system. To see this plan,
and to read about what Congress has done on immigration,
please click here.
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Legislative Information on Immigration
Rep. Sue Myrick has serious concerns
about America's immigration system. There are too few
immigration officials to handle the influx of immigrants
coming into this country. There are also too few enforcement
officials keeping illegal aliens out of the country.
President Bush has proposed a new
overhaul to immigration laws that would grant temporary legal
status to millions of undocumented workers in the United
States, and their families, as long as the workers can prove
they are employed. Rep. Myrick is against this plan. “This
proposed change to immigration laws rewards those who break
the law and punishes those who are following the law and are
going through the correct naturalization process,” Myrick
said. Rep. Myrick believes that the best way to correct
immigration problems is not to put band aids on them, but
correct the whole system.
In 2005, Congress increased its
awareness of immigration issues, and increased funding to
deal with illegal aliens and the immigration system as a
whole. In 2006, the House has passed several bills
dealing with illegal immigration and securing the Border.
One bill, the Secure Fence Act, would add 700 additional miles
of fencing on the border.
Funding for
Immigration and Border Enforcement
The FY2005 Supplemental Conference
Report passed May 5, 2005, included:
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$635 million for 500 additional Customs
and Border Patrol agents
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50 new Immigration and Customs
Enforcement investigators
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168 enforcement agents and detention
officers
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1,950 detention beds
The FY2006 Homeland Security
Authorization Act and the FY2006 Homeland Security
Appropriations Act does the following:
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Authorizes law enforcement personnel to apprehend, detain, or
remove aliens in the United States they encounter in the
course of carrying out routine duties.
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Includes funding for an additional 1,000 Border Patrol
Agents. When combined with the FY05 Supplemental, a
total of 1,500 new Border Patrol agents will be hired in 2006.
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Funds an additional 150 immigration criminal
investigators
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Funds an additional 200 Immigration Enforcement Agents
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Funds an additional 300 additional ICE attorneys to handle
removal and related immigration proceedings.
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Provides $61 million for border security technology, including
surveillance and unmanned aerial vehicles.
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Funds an additional 1,920 detention beds. When combined with
the FY05 Supplemental, 3,870 detention beds will be
added by the end of 2006.
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Begins including state and local government in immigration
enforcement- gives $40 million to state and local police and
officials to help train and certify them so that they can
enforce federal immigration laws.
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It also gives more funding for the illegal alien removal
program which would be use to hire an additional 100 agents.
REAL ID Act This bill, passed by Congress, sought
to close up the loopholes terrorists were using to illegally
get into America, and stay here. The bill has several
provisions that deal with a number of issues.
Driver’s Licenses
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This bill will establish voluntary
minimum security standards for state driver’s licenses and i.d.
cards that could be accepted by federal agencies. This is not
a federal ID, but makes sure people are who they say they are.
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This bill will make it harder for
terrorists to illegally get or fake driver’s licenses. 11 of
the 9/11 hijackers had 19 forms of ID with them.
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The bill will also make sure that if an
immigrant’s visa expires, then their driver’s license expires
as well.
Asylum
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This bill will keep terrorists from
abusing our asylum laws to get into our country. Ramzi Yousef
planned the first World Trade Center bombing while free for
asylum.
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It will increase the burden of proof
immigrants must meet to claim asylum.
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This bill will help those who truly need
asylum in the U.S. by removing the cap on the number of people
granted asylum who can become citizens.
Deporting Terrorists
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It will change laws so that it makes
terrorists deportable for the same reasons that make them
inadmissible. Without this law, belonging to a terrorist group
could be a reason not to let you into the country, but it
wouldn’t allow us to deport a terrorist who was already in the
country.
Border Fence
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