[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 106 (Friday, July 29, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H7599]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, NATIONAL SECURITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Franks) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. Franks of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, an ominous threat looms over the 
security of America today, and I stand in this well to ask 
responsiveness from this body to the situation at our borders, which 
today still remain unsecured. My home State of Arizona has become a 
gateway to the Nation for drugs, syndicated crime, and arms and sex 
trafficking; and they are intrinsically related to illegal immigration.
  In 2004 in Cochise County, Arizona alone, over 235,000 people were 
apprehended by the border patrol after they crossed the border 
illegally. The border patrol estimates that three to four people cross 
the border undetected for every person that they apprehend.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to do the math. By conservative 
estimates, over 700,000 people crossed into this country illegally last 
year who were not apprehended. This is through Cochise County, Arizona 
alone, one county in Arizona.
  Mr. Speaker, our first priority related to our borders should be 
first to protect them against terrorists with chemical, biological, or 
even nuclear materials. We do not know who the thousands of people are 
that stream across our unsecured borders every day. We do not know what 
they are bringing into this country with them. We do know that members 
of the MS-13 gang have been apprehended entering this country 
illegally.
  The MS-13 gang, Mr. Speaker, from South America are professed friends 
of al Qaeda. And for these reasons alone, we cannot allow our borders 
to remain unsecured. This is an unacceptable level of national security 
risk in a post-9/11 world.
  Mr. Speaker, it is the duty of the Federal Government to protect our 
borders; and, sir, we are failing that duty.
  In response to government ineffectiveness, individuals have organized 
themselves into citizen watch and border patrol groups, and this is at 
great sacrifice to themselves. There is something seriously wrong in 
this country when America's grandmothers feel compelled to sit at the 
border with binoculars to report illegal activity to authorities.
  Mr. Speaker, it is indeed a significant day in which we live. It is a 
dangerous world in which we live. And an unsecured American border 
risks a disaster of catastrophic scope. We are jeopardizing everything 
we hold in our hearts dear: our families, our friends, and the American 
way of life itself. We must take action to secure our borders now 
before this Nation again finds itself heart broken by tragedy and those 
of us in this body are left trying to explain to the American people 
why we did not do all that could have been done to prevent it.

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