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    Immigration

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:

  • $635 million for 500 additional Customs and Border Patrol agents

  • 50 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigators

  • 168 enforcement agents and detention officers

  • 1,950 detention beds

The FY2006 Homeland Security Authorization Act and the FY2006 Homeland Security Appropriations Act does the following:

  • Authorizes law enforcement personnel to apprehend, detain, or remove aliens in the United States they encounter in the course of carrying out routine duties.

  • 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.

  • Funds an additional 150 immigration criminal  investigators

  • Funds an additional 200 Immigration Enforcement Agents

  • Funds an additional 300 additional ICE attorneys to handle removal and related immigration proceedings.

  • Provides $61 million for border security technology, including surveillance and unmanned aerial vehicles.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • The bill will also make sure that if an immigrant’s visa expires, then their driver’s license expires as well.

Asylum

  • 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.

  • It will increase the burden of proof immigrants must meet to claim asylum.

  • 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

  • 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

  • It will close a gap left in the San Diego Border Fence. The fence was ordered to be built by law, but environmental lawsuits are holding up its completion. The bill will allow the Secretary of Homeland Security to waive laws and get the fence quickly completed.

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