Abercrombie, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) Immigration Task Force, referred to a bill passed by the House Republican majority Thursday afternoon.  The legislation, called the Secure Fence Act of 2006:

• Authorizes over 700 miles of two-layered fencing along the U.S. Mexico border;
• Orders the Department of Homeland Security to deploy cameras, ground sensors and unmanned aerial vehicles along the rest of the 1,951 mile international border; and
• Authorizes border patrol personnel to disable fleeing vehicles by shooting at them.

“One of the many things this bill completely ignores is cost,” said Abercrombie. “There is not one dollar to pay for a single foot of fencing, much less 700 miles of fencing, not to mention cameras, sensors and unmanned spy aircraft.” 

“Among other things House Republicans chose to ignore was a Democratic alternative that reflects the views of the 9/11 Commission and really improves border security, adding 12,000 additional Border Patrol agents, 8,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and 100,000 detention beds over four years.”

“Border security is just one step in fixing our broken immigration system,” Abercrombie said.  “There are other factors that need to be addressed: the 12-million illegal immigrants already working in the U.S.; some sort of guest worker program; sanctions against employers who exploit these illegal immigrants for cheap labor; and shortening the backlog in the family immigration system that affect U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents waiting years and sometimes decades to be reunited with their families.”

“If House Republicans really want to solve the immigration and border security situation, they would be negotiating with their colleagues in the Senate, who have already passed a comprehensive approach.  Sadly, they’d rather try to hide their failure behind a fence.  Their problem is that the public can see right through the fence.”

-30-