[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 130 (Monday, October 11, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1956-E1957]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                9/11 RECOMMENDATIONS IMPLEMENTATION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 8, 2004

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 10) to 
     provide for reform of the intelligence community, terrorism 
     prevention and prosecution, border security; and 
     international cooperation and coordination, and for other 
     purposes:

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the 
amendment as offered by my Texas colleague Mr. Bonilla of the 23rd 
Congressional District to increase the number of beds available for 
immigration detention and removal operations in the Department of 
Homeland Security. As the Ranking Member of the House Immigration 
Subcommittee, I recognize the urgent need for this proposal.
  The growth of the Immigration and Enforcement Agency's (ICE) and 
Border Patrol Servicess (BPS) enforcement efforts, along with the 
Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, 
which requires INS to detain aliens subject to mandatory detention, 
have increased the Department's need for detention bed space in recent 
years.
  The average daily bed space usage has more than doubled from 8,279 
average daily detention beds in FY 1996 to 18,518 in FY 2000. Every 
year the Department of Homeland Security arrests over 1.6 million 
aliens.
  Immigration and Customs Enforcement has 19,444 beds a night. But an 
average 22,500 detainees are in custody on any given day. The lack of 
space has led to a $1.3 billion shortfall that must be made up in other 
areas of the budget for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and 
detention.
  One of my concerns is the rise of the harmful effects of the 
``capture and release'' program. Brought on by a shortage of detention 
space, the program allows immigration officials to routinely release 
tens of thousands of illegal immigrants from countries other than 
Mexico after extracting a promise from each to show up at a future 
detention hearing.
  DHS officials acknowledge that more than 70 percent of those released 
disappear from law enforcement's radar, resulting in a fugitive 
population of 400,000 nationwide. Mexican migrants who are detained are 
deported and are usually bused to a port of entry where they cross the 
bridge to Mexico.
  Some 15,000 of these people (non-Mexican migrants) are in communities 
in Texas in the last eight months. Nearly half of non-Mexicans arrested 
since October 2003 were released on

[[Page E1957]]

the U.S. side of the border, according to Department of Homeland 
Security statistics released last week to the Chronicle. So far this 
fiscal year, which began Oct. l, 2003, Homeland Security officials 
released from Border Patrol custody 21,979 of the 49,705 illegal 
immigrants from countries other than Mexico, known to the Border Patrol 
as OTMs.
  As a member of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security's 
Subcommittee on Infrastructure and Border Security and Ranking Member 
of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Control I 
joined Mr. Bonilla and another of my Texas colleagues, Mr. Solomon 
Ortiz for a series of briefings and field visits at the Brownsville 
border areas.
  When Border Patrol (BP) officers catch undocumented immigrants, they 
take them to a facility to be processed. If they are Mexican, they 
usually are placed on a bus and returned to Mexico. If they are not 
Mexican, BP classifies them as ``OTM'' (other than Mexican). Under a 
new detention policy popularly known as ``catch and release,'' 
thousands of OTMs are released on their own recognizance pending a 
deportation hearing scheduled to be held months after they are 
released. Apparently, a large percentage of the OTMs abscond instead of 
appearing for removal proceedings.
  I share many of the concerns that my colleagues Solomon P. Ortiz and 
Henry Bonilla have expressed about border security. The catch and 
release policy appears to be the result of a lack of funding for 
detention facilities. The security concern about the catch and release 
policy is that it includes individuals from nations the U.S. defines as 
state sponsors of potential terrorism. Before commenting on the catch 
and release policy, I want to emphasize that immigration does not 
equate with terrorism. All but a few of the immigrants who enter our 
country unlawfully are hardworking people who are coming to the United 
States because they want better lives for themselves and their 
families.
  I favor the approach that Canada takes to border security, namely, 
they emphasize identifying the people who might be dangerous. We must 
improve intelligence operations so that our border patrol officers will 
be able to separate out the potential terrorists. This involves a two 
step process. We must first identify the potential terrorists, and then 
that information must be made available to the border patrol officers.
  My colleagues Solomon P. Ortiz and Henry Bonilla have said that we 
need to increase the number of immigration judges. They believe that an 
increase in the number of immigration judges will dramatically reduce 
the need for detention facilities. I agree that we need more 
immigration judges. I also think that we need more Board Members for 
the Board of Immigration Appeals. Attorney General Ashcroft removed 5 
experienced Board members a few years ago in a misguided effort to 
increase the productivity of the Board.
  My alien smuggling bill, the CASE Act, or H.R. 2630, will address one 
of the major impediments to gaining control over our borders. The CASE 
Act would establish a three-point program to facilitate the 
investigation and prosecution, or disruption, of reckless commercial 
alien smuggling operations that features incentives, penalty 
enhancements, and an outreach program. This three-point program would 
provide government investigators and prosecutors with tools that have 
proven their worth in other areas of criminal law and would be just as 
useful with commercial alien smuggling operations. The result would be 
fewer deaths from alien smuggling operations.
  Therefore, this amendment will address a very clear need, and I 
support the amendment offered by the gentleman from Texas.

                          ____________________