Washington, DC - Congressman Gene Green (D-Houston) gave the following statement during the August 16, 2006 field hearings on immigration.

 

Thank you Chairman McCaul and Congresswoman Jackson-Lee for allowing me to participate today.

Immigration has been one of the major topics of political debate in the Houston area for decades.

I have represented districts with significant Hispanic and Anglo populations for many years, so I am very interested in this hearing.

 

I also wanted to be present to express my support for our constituents in the 29th District, Mr. and Mrs. Ruiz, who lost a daughter in a terrible incident and will be testifying today on the third panel.

I am glad to see this Committee in Texas listening to our local concerns, but I am worried these hearings are being used to prop up some inaccurate stereotypes and promote some counter-productive policies.

 

Of the 12 million undocumented people in the United States, some of these people have certainly committed crimes, including terrible crimes like the murder of the Ruiz’s daughter. 

Undocumented immigrants or legal residents should know by now that committing a serious or violent crime is the fastest way to be deported after you pay your penalty or serve your time.

I certainly hope that the majority’s purpose with this hearing is not to try to blame Texas’ crime on Hispanic undocumented immigrants. 

 

Almost all the crime in Nuevo Laredo and along the border involves drug traffickers, not immigrants.

I also hope this hearing is not an attempt to support a ballot initiative this November to force the Houston Police Department to do the work of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The initiative is an unfunded mandate that will make us less safe.  I hope we can learn more about that issue from our panelists like Councilmember Adrian Garcia and HPD Chief Harold Hurtt.

Requiring HPD to enforce federal civil immigration law will mean they have less time and resources to enforce state and local criminal law.

 

If the ballot initiative passes, witnesses who are undocumented will not want to talk to the police or testify.  Legal residents and U.S. citizens in those communities will also be afraid of HPD because they may have undocumented family members.

 

We do not want a 16-year old citizen who witnessed gang violence to refuse to talk to the police for fear that his mother will be deported.

 

I have great sympathy for our witnesses from the border areas who are seeing a huge increase in border violence due to drug and kidnapping gangs.

 

Congress promised an additional 8,000 detention beds and 2,000 more Border Patrol agents in the 9/11 Intelligence Reform Act, but Congress has failed to put our money where our mouth is.

 

Conflicts overseas and recent tax cuts have not left enough money on the table to fund border security properly.  America must secure our borders, and if we have to sacrifice to do that, then we should consider it.

 

The Democratic minority in Congress has offered several amendments to add an additional 6,600 Border Patrol agents and 14,000 detention beds on the border, but these votes have failed due to the Republican majority’s opposition based on budgetary reasons.

 

Our Texas colleague Charlie Gonzalez also offered an amendment to the recent House immigration bill to increase fines on employers that hire undocumented workers but the majority also rejected his amendment.

 

In 1999, the Clinton Administration initiated fines against 417 companies for hiring undocumented workers.  In 2004, the Bush Administration issued fines to a grand total of three companies.

The solution to our undocumented worker program is to increase border security and enforcement on employers. 

 

We need to stop the leaks along the border and then we can deal with the undocumented population that is here—deport the criminals and fine the law-abiding ones.

 

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