[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 106 (Friday, July 29, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H7593-H7599]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION DANGERS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for
the remainder of the hour.
Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, for the last few weeks I have been discussing
the ongoing problem of illegal immigration into the United States; and
have mentioned numerous ills of this lack of a policy and how it
affects the United States and citizens here; how we are expending
exorbitant amounts of money to fund the actions of illegals, and
Americans pay for it.
Besides the cost of illegal immigration, the effect of our homeland
security is detrimental to the safety of our country, and we need to
have a plan and a plan that makes sense, has common sense, and that
works.
Mr. Speaker, at this time I would like to yield to the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Culberson) as much time as he wishes to consume on this
issue of immigration and one of the novel ideas he has come up with to
help solve this problem.
Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. I am proud to have
the gentleman with me as coauthor of legislation we have filed with 44
other Members of the House to use the mechanisms the Founding Fathers
left us in the Constitution to help defend this country against the
threat of terrorists who the FBI Director has confirmed in sworn
testimony that suspected terrorists and individuals from countries with
known al Qaeda connections are entering the United States illegally,
using false Hispanic identities, a subject the gentleman is talking
about here today, to make sure we accurately identify people entering
the U.S.
Federal law enforcement authorities have now confirmed what we have
known, and that is these individuals are trying to sneak into the U.S.,
crossing our southern border, hiding among the tremendous wave of
illegal immigration entering this country, and the Federal Government
simply does not have the manpower or resources to protect our
international borders.
{time} 1215
In a very real sense, 9/11 deputized every American, but not every
American can serve in our Armed Forces or join the FBI or the CIA and
fight on the front in the war on terror. So the gentleman from Texas
(Mr. Poe) and I, and 45 other Members of Congress, have filed
legislation invoking congressional power under the Constitution to
authorize all eligible American citizens who have no criminal record,
no history of mental illness to serve in a genuine militia force for
the sole purpose of protecting our borders.
The Border Protection Corps would serve truly as a neighborhood watch
border patrol. These individuals who would serve under the direct
control of our State Governors in those border States along the border
would be trained, equipped, and serve under the direction of the
Governor in cooperation with local and State law enforcement
authorities.
Mr. Speaker, I want to stress this. These individuals would indeed be
[[Page H7594]]
trained, be lawful militia forces as the Constitution envisioned under
the control of the Governor, working in cooperation with the Governor,
State law enforcement, and the border patrol simply to protect our
border and to prevent individuals from entering the United States
illegally and to, when necessary, take those individuals into custody.
State and local authorities would then be eligible for Federal
funding. A Governor that invokes this authority, taking command of
these lawful militia forces, the Border Protection Corps, would have
access to this Federal money, Homeland Security money, which would then
flow to that State. There is $6.8 billion in unspent homeland security
money that has been there for over 2 years, unspent for local
responders. There is no more important local response, or first
response, than protecting our borders.
So with this legislation that we have coauthored, if a Governor calls
up, takes command of these forces, again, trains them, puts them under
the control of local law enforcement, working with the border patrol,
that $6.8 billion is then eligible to flow to pay for the cost of
equipping, training, deploying these forces as well as building
temporary housing, detention facilities, for these individuals until
they would be turned over to Federal authorities. And those Federal
authorities must then determine that they are not a violent criminal, a
dangerous criminal, or a potential terrorist. If they are not, they
will simply be returned to their country of origin from which they
entered the United States.
Mr. Speaker, I would also point out that Nuevo Laredo is almost in a
full-scale war with drug smugglers and human smugglers. The new police
chief in Nuevo Laredo was shot dead his first day on the job. The
border with Mexico right now is essentially wide open. We have a
serious problem with criminals and potential terrorists entering the
country and hiding among all the people coming into the U.S. looking
for work.
We must protect our borders. We will never win the war on terror
until we truly protect our borders; and this legislation, which we have
coauthored with 44 other Members of the House, uses a mechanism the
Constitution gives us so that honest, law-abiding American citizens who
want to participate, who want to serve in a lawful, legitimate way to
help protect our borders can do so. By volunteering to serve in the
Border Protection Corps, they will be reimbursed for their time, their
equipment, their training, their travel costs; but they will truly be
volunteers.
By the way, any eligible U.S. citizen from any of the 50 States can
serve in the Border Protection Corps. This is a national call-up under
Congress' power to call up a militia. These individuals from any of the
50 States could come to Texas. The Governor of Texas is very interested
in this program and interested in implementing it. We have had the
Texas Rangers for many years, and it often took, as the expression was,
``One Ranger, one riot.''
We have in Texas a long, as does the country, a long honorable
tradition of citizens volunteering to serve in militia forces. This
bill, which we have filed, legitimizes that under the Constitution and
allows American citizens to participate in a way that is lawful, legal,
under the control of law enforcement authorities in a way to protect
our borders and our kids from terrorists sneaking into the country and
freeing America from one of the four freedoms that President Roosevelt
talked about: freedom from fear.
Because until we protect our borders, we will never win the war on
terror and never truly be free from fear. I thank the gentleman for the
time and for his support on this important legislation, as well as his
leadership in the effort to protect our borders.
Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I appreciate the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. Culberson), my fellow colleague, and his words on
stemming the tide of the invasion, really, into the United States.
Being from Texas, the gentleman knows very well the issues of border
security and the problems it is causing and the fact that we have an
open border policy basically in the southwest portions of the United
States. So I thank the gentleman for his leadership on this and the
approach to getting serious about protecting the United States borders
north and south.
Mr. Speaker, it is important to understand that this Nation is a
Nation of immigrants, and I certainly support legal immigration into
the United States. We all take pride in our heritage, in who we are and
where we came from. My ancestors on my mother's and dad's sides came
from Scotland and Germany. And when we look around the Chamber on any
given day, we see people from all over the world, their backgrounds
from all over the world, ethnic and racial backgrounds.
Of course, our national motto, ``E Pluribus Unum, Out of Many, One,''
is what this Nation was built upon. And the many did not simply come
from the mixing of cultures, but the commonly held belief they came
here for a reason. They came here for freedom, they came here for
liberty, and they came here, yes, for religious opportunity. But they
came here also because of the rule of law.
In 1890, Ellis Island was elected the site for construction of a
Federal immigration station for the Port of New York. This island was
open for business on January 1 of the next year. The first person to go
through Ellis Island was a 15-year-old girl, Annie Moore from Ireland,
January 1, 1892. She was born in 1877 in a place called Cork, Ireland.
Her parents, Matthew and Mary, had already emigrated legally to the
United States, seeking to find a better life for their family.
They did not really know what to expect when they came to this
America, so they left Annie and her two brothers back in Ireland. After
2 years, they established themselves and sent for their children. Annie
and her brothers boarded the ship the Nevada in Queenstown, and 12 days
later they arrived in New York Harbor. They were reunited with their
parents at Ellis Island and they had moved, to all places, Texas. So
the first Ellis Island immigrant moved to and lived in Texas.
That first day, around 700 immigrants were processed on that island,
and they would be followed by almost 500,000 that very year. People who
came here were screened, and some were made to return to their native
lands because they did not meet certain requirements to be a legal
immigrant. The peak of the years of immigration through Ellis Island
were between 1892 and 1924. In 1954, Ellis Island officially closed.
Between those years, many famous people passed through the front
doors of freedom to America: Albert Einstein, Bob Hope, F. Scott
Fitzgerald, W. C. Fields, and Rudyard Kipling, just a few of the
hundreds of thousands of individuals who came here. Those people were
screened by immigrant officials to make sure they were healthy and that
they could offer something to America rather than take something from
America.
The people who came through Ellis Island were from all over the
world. Germans, Irish, Chinese, Italians, Mexicans, Polish and Russians
all passed through Ellis Island. All together, 12 million immigrants
passed through the front doors of freedom during that era. One hundred
million Americans today in our country, about a third, can trace their
ancestry to the United States from a man, woman, or child who passed
through Ellis Island.
Margaret Thatcher made the comment that no other Nation has so
successfully combined people of other races and nations into a single
culture, and she is right about that. The immigrants who flocked to
Ellis Island and created the great melting pot that is America had one
thing in common: they showed great respects for our Nation and its laws
by emigrating legally. They all wanted to be Americans. They wanted to
be in the land of the free and the home of the brave, and they
understood that by coming here, and coming here legally, they would
eventually get citizenship and become an American. They honored their
own culture, but realized they had to understand this American culture
in order to become a part of it.
Ronald Reagan made the comment many, many years ago about America
being different than any other place in the world. He said that anybody
can be an American, and people have come from all over the world to be
Americans. But you can go to Italy and never be Italian; you can go to
France, and you will never be French; and you can
[[Page H7595]]
go to Germany, and you will never be German. But anybody can come to
the United States and be an American. And he is right about that.
Today, Mr. Speaker, we see times have changed. People no longer seek
immigration status into the United States on a legal basis. There is a
free flow of people across our border, and we now have a Nation that is
so increasingly tolerant of other people's views that we fail to make
sure they understand ours. Some say that we are losing our identity as
a Nation because we have open borders.
In order to stem this tide, we must make certain our Nation's borders
are secure and that any immigration into this country is done the right
way, the fair way, and in a legal way. Everybody wants to live in the
United States, but everybody cannot live in the United States; so we
have to have some rules. We have to have a policy, and we have to use
common sense and make sure it is fair to all. If we allow anyone from
anywhere to flood into our country, we will lose the traditions of our
country and eventually destroy the American Dream for all people.
Open borders cause chaos in this country. The United States is not
only being invaded by illegals but these individuals are colonizing our
country, and American citizens are paying for it. Americans always pay,
Mr. Speaker. The price of illegal immigration is a serious problem that
is costing American taxpayers millions of dollars from the areas of
social services to health care to education to law enforcement. The
American taxpayer is forced by our government to fund illegal
immigration because the government does not protect the borders.
It is estimated that between 11 million and 14 million people are
living in the United States illegally. That number rises by as much as
500,000 a year. All of these people are living in our country
illegally, and many are living off the United States and the people who
are citizens here and the generosity of those individuals by receiving
government benefits at the expense of American taxpayers.
Although it is the Federal Government's responsibility to control
immigration, the lack of enforcement by the Federal Government causes
citizens of the United States to pay the high costs associated with
this lack of policy. Americans have to pay those costs in education,
criminal justice, health care, and social services for those who are
here illegally. It is reported that 20 percent of these costs that
Americans pay are attributed to the illegal people that use the system
that got here illegally in the first place.
A huge cost to citizens is providing health care. America is a
compassionate country, and American doctors do not turn people away
from health care. We have the best health care in the world. And, of
course, these doctors and these hospitals do not turn away even illegal
people here. A trip to the emergency room costs money, and many
illegals do not have money to pay these fees. So somebody has to pay,
and Americans pay. Americans always pay. And these illegals get access
to free American health care, free health care to them but not to the
rest of us.
Another problem is immigrants' use of hospital emergency rooms rather
than preventive medical care. The utilization rate of hospitals and
clinics by illegals is more than twice the rate of the overall United
States population. About half of the illegal immigrant population in
the United States has no insurance or it is provided to them at
taxpayers' expense. In some hospitals, as much as two-thirds of their
total operating costs are uncompensated care for people who are illegal
in the United States.
In these instances, the Federal Government, which is really the
American citizens, the taxpayer, pays the bill; and the illegal
individual is essentially given free health care. Some hospitals in
urban areas have been forced to shut down because it is impossible for
them to absorb the cost of health care by people who are in the system
but do not pay for that system.
We have a health care cost crisis in the United States; and part of
the reason for it that no one wants to mention are those people who
take from the system, but who do not pay for it. If we are going to
treat illegals in our hospitals, we should send those hospital bills to
the countries where they come from. Why should Americans pay? We always
pay. Maybe we should send the bill to those countries, those presidents
who encourage their citizens to come to this Nation, especially
illegally.
Mr. Speaker, I see the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth) has
joined me on the floor. Does the gentleman wish to make a comment?
Mr. HAYWORTH. Mr. Speaker, if my friend would yield briefly, I just
wanted to return to the floor first of all to thank my colleague from
Texas and to state what is obvious to his constituents. He brings a
dedication and a passion to this Congress in his first term that has
won him notice in many quarters, and he demonstrates by tackling this
issue that he indeed is being responsive to his constituents.
{time} 1230
If I might just elaborate in terms of the Fifth Congressional
District of Arizona, like Texas, sharing a common border with Mexico,
earlier this summer I sent to my constituents a questionnaire, how do
we deal with the challenges of border security and illegal immigration?
Mr. Speaker, I would inform this House that in little more than 3
weeks' time, my office received over 10,000 responses.
The frustration that grows from the policies and the challenges that
the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is outlining bespeaks not a
universal, but a very convincing sentiment in my district where the
respondents by an almost 9-1 margin said it is time to enforce existing
law. I think we see across this country, whether in Arizona, Texas, or
California, a need for this body to address the border security
questions we continue to confront.
By almost a 9-to-1 margin, my constituents said enforcement first. By
almost a 9-to-1 margin, they said the incredible costs that American
taxpayers bear to essentially subsidize illegal behavior is
intolerable. By a 9-to-1 margin, respondents said in this survey they
understand full well that national security is synonymous with border
security.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) for allowing
me to share this time. I am pleased to be a cosponsor of the
legislation offered by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Culberson), and I
will continue to listen to my constituents on how we will deal with
this vexing problem and how we employ enforcement first, not a
euphemism saying we will have an amnesty and a guest worker program,
and, yes, we will really get tough on the border. That would be the
status quo, and that would be unacceptable, and that would tend to
encourage the Mexican Government and others, as outlined by the
illustrations behind the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe).
So let us have enforcement first and tie this to measurable,
attainable goals as we protect our borders, as we protect our Nation in
a post-9/11 world, as we are a Nation at war.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and appreciate his
leadership on this issue because he truly is hearing from his
constituents, and he is representing them in very capable fashion.
Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arizona (Mr.
Hayworth) for pointing out the situation in Arizona. The gentleman is
exactly correct in what he says about enforcing the rule of law.
Amnesty is a word that will bring the blood pressure up of my
constituents in the Second Congressional District of Texas faster than
any other trigger word, because we do not reward illegal behavior. I
did not do so as a judge for 22 years. We first start by securing the
border of the United States for several reasons, and we go from there.
I appreciate the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth) making those
comments.
Not only is health care cost a tremendous issue because of illegal
immigration, we have the cost of education. Education happens to be the
largest public cost associated with illegal immigration in the United
States, and it is going to have long-term consequences.
The Supreme Court ruled back in 1982 that all people, all children in
the United States are provided a free public school education. It is
estimated there are more than 50,000 illegal students in the United
States public
[[Page H7596]]
schools; the Federation for Immigration Reform, total K-12 school
expenditure for illegal immigrants cost the States $12 billion. So that
means it is costing taxpayers $12 billion a year to educate those
individuals.
The $3.9 billion spent annually educating children of illegal
immigrants in Texas could cover the shortfall that the Texas Federation
for Teachers has identified for school books and pension contributions.
It could even increase the salaries of teachers. And Texas is
undergoing a tremendous cost problem with education in our State,
trying to make sure that we do it in a fair and equitable way, but part
of the problem is taxpayers are having to fund education for those
people who are illegally here in the United States.
It is not just a border issue. The State of Georgia spends about $26
million to teach bilingual education. This is not fair to Americans.
The problem is not only in the public school systems. Nine States,
including Texas, has started rewarding illegals by giving them instate
tuitions when they decide to go to a public university.
Let me explain that. These people are illegally in the United States
to begin with, but yet when they get accepted to a public university,
they get to go to that public university, paying instate tuition. That
is about 3,700 students in the State of Texas. That is unfair to
American kids. A kid from Oklahoma, if they want to go to the
University of Texas, they pay out-of-State tuition which is about three
times the amount of instate tuition. So we discriminate against
American citizens to the behest of people here illegally. And people
who come to the United States legally to get an education from all over
the world, and they do so in a legal manner, they pay out-of-State
tuition. They pay the same out-of-State tuition as someone from
Oklahoma would pay. But if you are here illegally, nine States allow
those individuals to pay instate tuition.
This ought not to be. It defies common sense. These citizens or these
individuals are illegally living in the United States, they are not
legal residents to begin with, and they are not eligible to work in the
United States after they get that education. So the United States is
paying to educate these people who, upon graduation, cannot legally
work here.
This defies logic. Not only that, admission spaces in public
universities are limited. Legal residents are being denied entry due to
the fact that illegals are taking up spaces. These spaces are being
filled by other individuals, and yet Americans pay, Americans all pay.
Further, to show how extensive this problem is, many illegals receive
State and Federal grants to attend a university. What that means is
they are receiving moneys to go to these universities. These grants
should go to American kids, American citizens. Many times parents in
this country cannot afford to send their children to a college, to a
university. They seek help. Well, some of this aid is going to people
who are illegally in the United States. It defies common sense.
Going further, not only mentioning health care and education, there
is the criminal justice system. When I was a judge in Houston, Texas,
for over 22 years, it was estimated that 20 percent of the people I saw
were illegally in the United States. While they are serving time in
Texas penitentiaries, Texans were paying the price. We provide those
individuals a defense attorney, a court system, a trial, and
incarceration, all on the American taxpayers' dollar. Americans pay,
Americans always pay.
Of course, there is another problem that illegal immigration poses,
and it is not just the sanctity of the American dream, but to its
safety as well. While I have the sympathy and respect for those who
wish to come to the United States and pull themselves up, there is the
fear that there are those who hide amongst those individuals who wish
to exploit American ideals and American citizens. These are people we
now call terrorists. Let me give an example.
Mr. Speaker, earlier this year I was in Iraq. I was there for the day
that Nation started its democracy. Contrary to what the skeptics and
the cynics thought, that nation is on its way to a democracy. We know
of the terrorists that come into that nation. Those terrorists are
mainly not Iraqis. Those are individuals from all over the world, but
they are not Iraqi citizens. They come to Iraq through their open
borders of Syria and Iran.
Why are we so naive to think that terrorists will not come through
our open borders of Canada and Mexico and do the same thing to us? It
is easily conceivable for al Qaeda members to cross our borders and put
our families at risk.
It is for this reason it is essential that we secure our border,
because it is a national security issue. The whole world knows that
America has no secure borders. We catch a few here, and we let most of
them slip through. It is no secret that our enemies will continue to
exploit our weakest points, and that is our borders. The tragedy of 9/
11 has proven we are not as safe as we thought we were, and our
immigration policy has to be corrected.
The hijackers took advantage of our flawed immigration policies. They
had expired and counterfeit documents. Some were staying in cities and
sanctuaries. We will never make our country completely safe without
proper border enhancement.
Mr. Speaker, half of the people crossing our borders are from
countries other than Mexico. They come from El Salvador, Brazil, Egypt,
China, Russia, Poland and, yes, even France. They pose a challenge
because deporting them is harder because their countries are further
away. So here is what happens to those individuals that come to the
United States illegally and are caught and are from some nation other
than Mexico.
After arrested, they are taken to a Federal magistrate, and the
Federal magistrate releases these individuals on their word that they
will show up for their deportation hearing. Most do not show up. Why
are we shocked about the fact that they do not return to court for
their deportation hearing? This defies common sense to have a catch-
and-release policy. Detention facilities are full, so they are ordered
to be released on their word to return to court.
Mr. Speaker, this does not make any sense. This catch-and-release
policy not only is costly, but does not work. And these individuals
then carry around their summons to appear in court, and if they are
stopped by some officer of the law, they show their summons, which is a
pass. In other words, these individuals are released. They present and
promote chaos in the United States.
Let me deal specifically with the nation of Mexico. Those coming from
Mexico illegally are breaking our law. Individuals from Mexico can
obtain, before they even get in the United States, fake green cards.
They can go to a local Mexican flea market, and there is a growing
number of individuals that will provide them counterfeit Social
Security cards and a counterfeit driver's license. And the Mexican
administration has even created a policy to help folks who want to come
to the United States illegally.
I have a copy of this Guide for the Mexican Immigrant. I have some of
the demonstrations of what is in this book for those individuals who
come to the United States illegally. They can obtain this book through
the administration of the Mexican Government, and it shows them what to
do and what will occur if they enter the United States. Here is the
cover, Guide for Coming to the United States as a Mexican Immigrant.
Here on this panel I have some of the drawings that are in this book.
It instructs individuals when to cross the United States border from
Mexico. It also talks about the fact of what occurs when they are
actually confronted by border security and what they can do about it.
It talks about the issue of coyotes, those people who live and make
money off the illegal importation of citizens into the United States.
It talks about the appropriate time to cross into the United States. It
talks about the fence over in California. It talks about the importance
of crossing the river into the United States at the appropriate time
and in the appropriate place at night so you cannot be seen.
This last panel here is very interesting. We see that this individual
is listening to the radio. These are supposed to be Mexican illegals
that have come to the United States, and actually gives them in this
book a radio
[[Page H7597]]
channel that they can listen to in Mexico to help them come across the
border or what to do once they get into the United States. Some of
their questions are answered from this radio station that is broadcast
from Mexico.
So it does not make sense that we help fund this process of
encouraging people to come to the United States in an illegal way.
There is a guide provided for them if they wish to have that, and it
helps those individuals assimilate into the United States.
{time} 1245
So we have to have a policy, Mr. Speaker, regarding those individuals
who come here and make sure that we enforce the rule of law, enforce
the concept of securing our borders.
Mr. NORWOOD. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. POE. I yield to the gentleman from Georgia.
Mr. NORWOOD. I have been listening to the gentleman from Texas for
the last half hour and the gentleman from Arizona, and it dawned on me
that the good argument you are making is also an argument to be made
for States like mine, Georgia. I know we are not a border State, but we
have the same problems that you have because they do not all stay in
Texas. A lot of them come up our way and they are just as illegal as
they can be. I know you have been discussing different problems that
occur by having anywhere from 12 to 15 million illegal aliens in our
country; and I would like to just point out one, maybe two little
things.
I have a bill known as the CLEAR Act. We have a lot of cosponsors on
it. We are after one little thing about illegal immigration. We are
after those that have been ordered to be deported, about 500,000. Out
of those, there are about 100,000 that are violent criminals. We have
2,000 Federal agents trying to run these people down, which, as I know
you know, means we are not doing anything. We are simply saying that
local law enforcement that has the authority, we make it clear they do
have the authority to help us out. And then we tell BICE, Do your job.
We fund them, which is a great savings to the Nation because the cost
of illegal aliens is simply unbelievable. The funds we spend trying to
do something about it will absolutely save this country a lot of money.
I congratulate my colleague, a freshman from Texas. You are on the
right issue. You are saying the right things. I hope when we get back
in September finally, finally this Congress will listen, because I know
what you are hearing at home and I am hearing the same thing. You and I
are not the only Members of this body hearing that we have to do
something about this because it involves our national security, not to
speak of all the other problems.
The gentleman from Arizona is right. My bill will not solve a thing.
No other bill will solve a thing until we do one thing first: we must
secure the borders. Then we can talk about all the different ways we
deal with the other problems, including my bill. We can talk about what
to do about 15 million people in the country illegally. But none of
that talk means anything, no bills mean anything, until we enforce the
law as it is today and secure our borders.
Mr. POE. I thank the gentleman from Georgia for his comments and also
the sponsorship of his CLEAR Act. It is clear to me that the CLEAR Act
ought to be the law of the land and allow police officers to do their
jobs. It is silly that police officers in many States, and
unfortunately Texas is one of them, that if they come across an
individual that is illegally in the United States, they cannot do
anything about that individual. They cannot take them to the Federal
authorities and let the Federal authorities deport those people. It
defies common sense that they are not allowed to do that. They
certainly should have the authority under the rule of law to enforce
all of the laws, the violations of the laws that they have found out
about.
What my colleague from Georgia mentioned about border security
regarding the issue of amnesty and the issue of terrorism is very well
taken. Of course, as I mentioned with our good friend from Arizona,
amnesty is one of those words that in my area of the country people do
not accept. They think that is a bad idea. We tried amnesty in this
country. It did not work. Now there are those who want to try it again.
We need to remember history, and history has shown that giving people a
free ride that were here illegally has not solved any of our
immigration policies.
We have a policy in the United States in many cities called safe
havens, created by sanctuary laws. These laws basically prevent police
from arresting individuals that they come across who are illegally in
the United States for no other reason than they have crossed paths and
that they find out that they are here illegally.
Not only that, these sanctuary laws and these sanctuary hideouts
prevent and prohibit police officers from, and I quote the law that
first started in Los Angeles, initiating any police action where the
objective is to discover the alien status of the individual. It just
seems to me, and common sense would dictate, that the police should
know who is in the United States legally and illegally.
These cities obviously have not heard of the war on terror. This
policy has created an absurdity by allowing these individuals who have
come here illegally to basically have sanctuary hideouts and prevent
the police from arresting them because they are here illegally.
To further demonstrate the problem with these sanctuary hideouts, and
it is also detrimental to national security, we need to mention the
violent MS-13 gang that has spread across the United States. MS-13 is a
gang of criminals, drug dealers from Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, and
some from Mexico. They live in our prisons, those that have been
captured; but they also live outside the United States, and they live
in the United States. They have gotten so out of control that
prospective members must commit a violent act against a community,
usually a community in the United States, to become a member of the MS-
13 gang.
MS-13 and other gangs like this share two things in common: they are
regularly arrested for committing crimes, they do time, they are
deported and they come back to the United States. The second thing
these gangs have in common is that once they are back in the United
States, they are often ignored by the police because, even though the
police know they are illegally here, they know that they cannot stop
them for just being illegally in the United States. This occurs in many
of our larger cities.
Of course, these gang members not only deal in drug trafficking but
they have organized so well they know how to come into the United
States. According to recent reports, MS-13 has made contacts with
terrorist groups such as al Qaeda. Because these gangs are so adept at
evading our border patrol and so knowledgeable about sanctuary laws, al
Qaeda seeks them out as guides. When it comes down to it, we cannot
afford to continue sanctuary hideouts in the United States. They give
safe haven to gang members, and they destroy our streets and corrupt
our neighborhoods. They even allow now our worst enemies to ally with
those individuals who have come here illegally.
So we really have two terrorist groups in the United States. We have
a domestic terrorist group, MS-13 and their likewise gang members who
deal in drug trafficking, and we have an international terrorist group
that we all know about. We must now have to deal with both of those.
Mr. Speaker, there are about 800,000 local law enforcement officials
in the United States, and they take a pledge to protect and serve every
day, the task of enforcing our laws and making our communities safe.
They watch out for our country and our kids and our families in this
great land. We must allow those State and local law enforcement
authorities the authority to arrest people that are here illegally and
deal with them through the Federal process. The police are on the front
lines every day, and they should be allies with the Federal Government
in assisting to protect and serve and protect the borders.
Mr. NORWOOD. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. POE. I yield to the gentleman from Georgia.
Mr. NORWOOD. In the gentleman's experience in the justice system,
would you conclude that people who are in law enforcement do it for the
love of
[[Page H7598]]
it? They want to enforce the law. And those that are not today are
being held back by politicians in some cities around the country that
really will not even let them enforce the law. Do I have a misreading
of that, or is that correct?
Mr. POE. The gentleman from Georgia is exactly correct. I know a lot
of police officers. Some rookies, some have been around, some have
retired. They do it for the reason that they want to help the community
protect the neighborhoods and enforce the rule of law. They, too, are
frustrated about these sanctuary laws throughout the United States that
basically give them a hands-off policy in dealing with illegals. They
want to work with the Federal authorities. Of course they know the
consequences of enforcing the law. Some of them have been threatened
with being terminated if they arrest people who have been illegally in
the United States for no other purpose.
Mr. NORWOOD. If the gentleman will yield one more time, part of the
problem of this is that groups like La Raza and others make it their
business to try to sue cities, county commissions, law enforcement when
they do enforce Federal law because the present law is just written in
such a way that they can get away with some of that. Does that deter a
city like Houston, Texas, from encouraging its law enforcement
officials to help obey the law, help enforce the law, or is that why
they are saying to their officials, Hey, don't help anything with this.
We may get sued?
Mr. POE. I think part of the reason is exactly that. Cities and
communities are afraid of those lawsuits and being tied up in court on
enforcing the rule of law. How silly has this all become where cities
cannot enforce the rule of law in the United States for fear of being
sued by some other entity. As my colleague well knows, this needs to be
cleared up so that these authorities can have the proper legal
authority to arrest individuals that are here illegally and have them
dealt with through Federal immigration policy. It is a very frustrating
thing, and we see that occur. We hear police officers talk about that
very problem on numerous occasions.
Let me mention, Mr. Speaker, a few more matters before I conclude
here. This is a national security issue. It is an immigration issue. It
is protecting the borders and making sure that we keep our borders safe
for the Americans who live in the United States. As the gentleman from
Georgia has pointed out, we only have about 2,000 officials in the
whole United States that are actually seeking out people illegally in
the United States once they cross the border.
One of the solutions maybe is to require a passport for people coming
into the United States from Mexico and from Canada. Immigration
officials have to look at hundreds of different types of documents to
verify someone's legal status or who they are, their identity, before
they come into the United States. Maybe we should reevaluate that
policy. A passport policy would certainly not discriminate as we seem
to do now on entry into the United States, and requiring individuals to
have those passports to come and go from the United States would
certainly help identify the true identity of these individuals.
So often people who come to the United States have already obtained a
false identification. I experienced even in my time at the courthouse
that individuals were sometimes using one Social Security card and
there were seven or eight people using the same Social Security card to
work in the United States. That Social Security card to begin with was
fraudulent and a forgery. Maybe the passport idea is something that we
need to evaluate and something that we certainly need to do as soon as
we can to ensure the quality and safety of our borders.
I have received, as all Members of Congress receive, numerous letters
from constituents about many issues. The comments I receive the most
have to do with immigration and safety of the United States and
national security and homeland security. It all centers around the
borders. I had a senior citizen who contacts my office on a regular
basis who sent me this letter, and with this last letter I will close.
However, before doing so, I yield to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr.
King).
Mr. KING of Iowa. I thank the gentleman from Texas, and I appreciate
the gentleman yielding. I have been watching the gentleman on C-SPAN
from my office. I was compelled to come over here. I want to compliment
you for your leadership and the fact that you are down here on a
regular basis carrying this message that the American people need to
hear. It needs to echo across all this land, the border States that are
well represented in this presentation here today, but also throughout
the heartland of America.
It is an intense issue. I know that the gentleman from Arizona (Mr.
Hayworth) talked about a 9 to 1 survey that they want tighter border
controls in Arizona. Your statistics, I think, would be close to that.
We put out a survey a year ago last March to 10,000 of my constituents
in a random mailing that went into these households, Democrats and
Republicans alike. It was all on immigration. The question that was the
most significant was: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most
intense, how intensely do you agree with this statement: We should
reduce legal immigration and eliminate all illegal immigration. If you
counted the 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s and 10s as being agreeing in intensity, 97
percent of my constituents said we want to have less legal and no more
illegal immigration.
I wanted to tell you that we stand with you in Iowa, we stand with
you in the Midwest, we stand together as American citizens. It is time
to defend our borders and protect our sovereignty. If you do not have a
border that you control, you cannot have a nation. It is the core of
this country. Law and order and respect for the rule of law is an
essential component of any nation. I sit on the Immigration
Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, and I am pledged to
going forward on this same cause. I look forward to locking arms with
you and dozens of Members of this Congress as we move forward into this
national debate that is so long awaited on immigration.
Mr. POE. I thank my friend from Iowa. We hopefully will deal with
this issue as a body in September, come up with a commonsense
immigration policy and plan that works. But any plan that we come up
with has to start with the basic premise that we have to secure the
borders and make sure that people in other nations respect the rule of
law in the United States. As you mentioned and alluded to, we have
people that come here legally. The process of coming here legally is
taking so long, it discourages legal immigration and encourages those
people to go around the rule of law and come into the United States
illegally. A commonsense immigration policy that is fair to Americans,
puts America first, is something that we need to deal with.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would like to read a short letter from a
senior citizen down in east Texas. There is that east Texas wit and
common sense that sometimes we do not see throughout other portions of
the United States. He starts out his letter: ``There is an iceberg in
the national bathtub. Illegal immigration and our current government's
nonresponse to it is jeopardizing our national security, our State's
security and our local security. With these 25 million illegal
immigrants comes a huge problem and even larger risks.
{time} 1300
``We have more than likely allowed several terrorists and their
weapons into the country. We all but rolled out the red carpet. The
social welfare costs are damning. The disease and heightened risk from
an epidemic increase every day. The threats to our law and order are
real as crime rates attributable to certain gangs and the human
smugglers is intolerable.
``The most telling tale of neglect and dereliction of duty is the
Minute Men, having to do the job the Federal Government refuses to do.
I am joining these individuals with my vote. No one will ever get my
vote unless this cart and horse is turned around 180 degrees in the
next election cycle. I am sick of excuses and political statements and
rhetoric and all of these fake hands across the border. We have got to
seal the borders, get control, and fix our immigration laws and the
rule of law at this time.''
Mr. Speaker, the members of our community seem to get it. I do not
[[Page H7599]]
know why the Federal Government does not seem to get it. Mr. Speaker,
this ought not to be. We have to deal with this immigration issue as a
body, set a plan, and enforce the law.
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