[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 101 (Thursday, July 10, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H6586]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           CLEAR ACT OF 2003

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. NORWOOD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share the tragic tale of a 
New York mother's brutal attack, why it should never have happened and 
what can be done now to ensure that it never happens again.
  Mr. Speaker, just this past December, a man and woman were sitting in 
a New York City park when they were suddenly surrounded by a gang of 
young men. The gang kicked and beat the woman before dragging her along 
the nearby railroad tracks, forcing her into woods where they 
threatened to kill this 42-year-old mother of two and repeatedly raped 
her. Mr. Speaker, it was a vicious, shocking, horrific crime. But, Mr. 
Speaker, it was a crime that should never have happened.

                              {time}  1915

  That should have never been allowed to happen in the first place. The 
reason it should have been prevented is that the five males charged 
with carrying out this heinous act were living in the United States 
illegally. Even more unbelievable, four of them had criminal pasts and 
had been in the hands of law enforcement authorities, two actually 
having served jail time. But instead of being immediately deported, as 
the law says, they were released back on to the streets, back into our 
society, allowing them then to commit more crimes.
  Sadly, Mr. Speaker, this is just one story of many stories, stories 
of crimes that should have been prevented, of victims that should have 
never been. These stories are a reflection of our immigration law 
enforcement system in our Nation that is badly broken and in need of 
immediate repair. It is a system that provides little or no 
coordination between Federal, State and local officials, is badly 
outmanned, and results in safe havens for common criminals who roam the 
countryside instead of safe streets for the law-abiding citizens who 
call this home, and needlessly and increasingly endangers the very 
homeland security of the United States at a very critical time in our 
Nation's history.
  Mr. Speaker, today in America there are almost 400,000 individuals 
who have been ordered deported, but are instead hiding out in our 
communities. Of these, roughly 80,000 are criminal aliens, and I am not 
talking about running a stop sign, I am talking about violent 
criminals. That means there are 80,000 illegal aliens with criminal 
convictions that are on the prowl, thanks to our broken immigration 
system.
  So what great force does our Federal Government provide to enforce 
the immigration laws of our Nation and account for the 400,000 illegal 
aliens with standing deportation orders, or the 80,000 of those who are 
criminal aliens? Just 2,000 folks who work for the Bureau of 
Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
  Mr. Speaker, as they say in north Georgia, these folks have just got 
more than they can say grace over. These 2,000 men and women work hard, 
they are good people, but, as the numbers suggest, it is not a fair 
fight, and this is not a realistic goal, if we intend to enforce our 
immigration laws.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time we got serious about fixing our sad 
immigration law enforcement system. This week, after much thought and 
work, I introduced the Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal 
Act. We are going to call it the CLEAR Act of 2003. It is a bill that 
would finally give assistance and motivation to those 2,000 agents in 
the field by granting local and State law officers access to data, 
clarification of the jurisdiction, and appropriate funding and training 
to help them. Finally, it gives clarification and teeth to the laws 
already on the books, and order and accountability to a system that has 
been lacking in much of that for far too long.
  Mr. Speaker, we have an opportunity here, I believe, to finally 
insist that this country enforce the laws that are on our books. We are 
a Nation of laws. I believe that. I believe that is what makes America 
great. But for us to say that we are going to enforce our laws against 
400,000 illegal aliens that are out there with deportation orders, or 
the 80,000 that are criminals, or the 4,000 that come from countries 
friendly to al Qaeda, or the 10,000 or so that are needed for 
questioning by our national security agencies, at a time when we are 
concerned about terrorists, we simply absolutely must do something 
about this, and the CLEAR law will do that. I encourage my colleagues 
to look at our bill and hopefully cosponsor it.

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