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Last fall, I introduced the Border Security and Interior Enforcement Improvement Act to spur congress to address border security first to address our illegal immigration problem.
Unfortunately, my prediction that congress would instead embrace a comprehensive, do-everything, immigration bill that would end up doing nothing has come true. Amnesty for illegal aliens, or anything that resembles amnesty, is not something that the vast majority of my constituents tell me they want. Nebraskans want illegal immigration stopped which is why I introduced a bill that would secure our borders first. Only after securing our borders can we begin to address the other aspects of comprehensive immigration reform.
It is heartening to see that President Bush, who recently visited Nebraska to promote a do-everything-at-once-approach, is now open to considering a border security first approach.
A story in the New York Times on July 5, 2006 said that the President is now open to an enforcement-first approach that would put new border security programs in place before creating an amnesty or guest worker program dealing with those already here illegally.
The shift is significant and recognizes what I have been saying all along, that the do-everything approach taken by the Senate had no chance of being squared with the House bill which meant nothing would happen and our borders still stand open. Hopefully, the direction proposed in my bi-partisan legislation that secures the borders will now be our main priority.
This is what I would like to see:
• Securing the Border
o Add 8,000 Border Patrol Agents
o Increase use of technology to assist with border surveillance
o Create and control a border zone along the U.S.-Mexico border
• Enforcing the Laws
o Add 1,000 personnel to investigate immigrant smuggling
o Add 10,000 worksite enforcement investigators and 5,000 fraud detection agents to crack down on employers who illegally employ immigrants
o Add 1,250 Customs and Border Protection Officers to assist with border control
• Visa Reform
o Eliminate the lottery-like Diversity Visa Program that allots 50,000 visas annually with no background check required
o Discontinue visas for immigrants from countries that deny or delay repatriation
• Help Employers Identify Illegal Immigrants
o Create an employment eligibility verification system for employers to verify the legal status of any prospective employees
o Increase the penalties for employers who don’t use the verification system or knowingly hire illegal workers
• Penalize Law-Breakers
o Increase penalties for human smugglers
o Enhance penalties for certain crimes committed by illegal immigrants
o Make illegal immigrants participating in criminal street gangs deportable
While the comprehensive bill that passed the Senate was doomed before it was completed, it included some controversial provisions that call into question the appropriateness of that approach.
Bob Novak of The Chicago Sun Times recently reported that the bill contained “a terrorist loophole” that would restrict local police from arresting aliens for civil violations, limiting them to apprehension for criminal offenses. That means a police officer could not arrest someone whose papers showed he had overstayed his visa. The newspaper pointed out that four of the 9/11 terrorists, all of whom had violated immigration laws, were stopped for speeding before the attack. Had police asked the right questions, those terrorists could have been arrested under current law. The Senate bill would prohibit that action by police.
With the President’s leadership and renewed focus on border security my hope is that we can finally secure our borders before we do anything else. That is the right way to deal with the problem. Otherwise, our borders will remain open, the flood of illegal immigration will continue, and the challenges that face us will grow more difficult.
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