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Republicans rejected calls for amnesty and we've fought efforts to provide illegal aliens with taxpayer funded benefits. The American people are far closer to our Republican approach to border security than they are to Nancy Pelosi's approach.
The Secure Fence Act, which authorizes the construction of 700 miles of security barriers along the southwest border, has now been sent to President Bush for his signature. This piece of legislation is an important piece of the border security puzzle.
If this Nation really wants to create an effective border security policy, we need to have a debate that includes a discussion about actual solutions to our problems, which means taking all of the political grandstanding and baiting out of the equation.
Over the last several years, I've passed defunding Planned Parenthood, the sonogram bill, voter ID. I passed the TSA anti-groping bill, sanctuary cities, loser pay, border security, and the toughest Jessica's law in the entire nation against sexual predators.
We need to believe that we can achieve progress in fixing our broken immigration system, prioritizing smart border security investments, cracking down on those who are trafficking and smuggling, and relieving the ongoing humanitarian crisis at our southern border.
This Congress has promised all manner of border security and port security to the tune of billions of dollars... yet we have - to date - funded our promises for port security at only $900 million. That's quite a distance between what we say and what we actually do.
Despite all the evidence that Hispanics are not single-issue voters, Republican candidates are told that if they say harsh things about sanctuary cities, American jobs lost to illegal labor, or scandalous border security, Latino voters will punish them by voting Democrat.
Mr. Chairman, on September 11, we were attacked by terrorists who took advantage of weaknesses in our border security. After infiltrating our country, the terrorists were able to conceal their real identities, and thereby plot their attacks without fear of being apprehended.
Should we attempt border security first, which I believe we should, we still need to face the fact that comprehensive reform is necessary. This must include a guest worker program and dealing with the 11 million people who are here today that are contributing to our economy.
Obama wants to raise the issue of immigration reform so that he can demonize Republicans as anti-Hispanic. That's why Obama ignores the broad support for an immigration plan that would provide border security once and for all and then deal with the illegal immigrants who live here.
I offered early on - I think I was governor about a month when I met President Obama - and said, 'I would like to visit with you in reference to border security, in reference to immigration. I'd like to be part of the discussion because I lived on the border all my life.' I've never received a call.
Border strengthening is effective, but not if done in isolation. We also need to give priority to establishing public institutions that deliver a sustained level of security and justice for citizens. Border security can never come at the expense of migrants' rights. Nor can it be used to legitimize inhumane treatment.
This issue of border security is not about, about ethnicity. I sit there on occasion with 10 or 12 sheriffs from my district, many of which are Democrats with last names like Reyes, with last names like Herrera and Lucio. And they are crying out for border security as well. So again, this is not an issue about being anti-Mexican.