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Tuesday’s immigration raid in Greenville served as a startling reminder that the problem of illegal immigration remains a serious one, and one that directly impacts us here in South Carolina. I believe that it is essential that we prioritize our efforts to secure our borders and protect American citizens from unlawful immigrants’ entrance into our country. I am proud to have a strong record of supporting efforts to secure our borders and reduce illegal immigration to protect our national security and economic stability while opposing amnesty. I strongly encourage giving State and local law enforcement the authority to assist in the enforcement of immigration laws and as a member of the Immigration Reform Caucus, continue to stress the urgent need for a fence along our Southern border.
Before Labor Day, the House took action to reauthorize the E-Verify program. E-Verify helps tens of thousands of companies insure the employment eligibility of newly hired employees, giving employers an important tool to ensure that they are hiring legal workers. 66,000 employers, representing close to 259,000 worksites, currently are signed up to use the E-Verify program, and the number of registered employers is growing by over 1,000 per week. While the House has acted on H.R. 6633, which provides a 5-year extension to E-Verify, the Senate has yet to act on this critically important legislation. If E-Verify is allowed to expire, then law enforcement will loose an important tool in combating illegal immigration. For more information on E-Verify, visit www.dhs.gov/e-verify.
Congress also passed legislation that will fund border patrol and other immigration activities for the coming year. The legislation builds off of funding increases started by Republicans and provides $5 billion to fund immigration and customs enforcement efforts, including $1 billion to identify and deport dangerous criminal aliens and $99.7 million to assist state and locals with immigration enforcement efforts. The Department of Homeland Security is using these dollars to train local law enforcement in immigration law enforcement at Charleston’s Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. You can find more about these efforts here: http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/newsreleases/articles/080616charleston1.htm.
While the 110th Congress may be nearing a close, please know that I will not turn away from my commitment to security our borders and addressing illegal immigration. I am a cosponsor of The Fence by Date Certain Act, and voted for The Immigration Law Enforcement Act of 2006, legislation which gave authority to State and local law enforcement to assist in the enforcement of immigration laws, to provide for effective prosecution of alien smugglers, and to reform immigration litigation procedures. I am a cosponsor of The CLEAR Act and I strongly support The SAVE Act, both of which will significantly increase the size of the Border Patrol.
In addition to prioritizing border patrol, I have always strongly supported legislation that would declare English as our nation’s official language, and a recent poll conducted by The Conservative Caucus Foundation shows that there is strong support, 98 percent in fact, to require immigrants to learn “our nation’s unifying language”. I also believe that it is imperative that we end the abused practice of birthright citizenship. Blanket amnesty is not the answer as it rewards illegal behavior and passes on huge public costs to the American people.
There are an estimated 37.3 million immigrants in the United States, and of those, it is believed that 11.3 million are illegal aliens. I am urging Congress to protect our American rights and liberties and take action to prevent these individuals who seek to exploit the freedoms of our country by entering illegally. To learn more about my views on Border Security please visit http://brown.house.gov/Issues/bordersecurity.html. To share with me your thoughts on immigration, please email me through my website: http://brown.house.gov/Contact/writebrown.html.
I Want to Hear from You!
I hope you find this E-Newsletter to be helpful and informative. I encourage you to forward it to friends and family. If someone you know is interested in receiving my Newsletter via e-mail, they need only visit my site and enter their zip code in the “E-Mail Updates” block found on the home page. Likewise, if you would like to contact me, I hope you will visit my website and send an e-mail message by clicking on the “Contact Me” block. Due to security concerns with mail received at the Capitol, postal letters can take several weeks to reach the Washington, DC office.
Thank you for the honor and privilege of representing the citizens of the First Congressional District. I pledge to do my best in upholding the trust that you have placed in me.
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