[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 164 (Sunday, December 18, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2611]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E2611]]
 BORDER PROTECTION, ANTITERRORISM, AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CONTROL ACT 
                                OF 2005

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, December 16, 2005

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 4437) to 
     amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to strengthen 
     enforcement of the immigration laws, to enhance border 
     security, and for other purposes:

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I am very disappointed in the 
Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act 
of 2005, H.R. 4437. It takes an enforcement only approach at a time 
when we should be working together on comprehensive immigration reform, 
and it is full of anti- immigrant provisions that are ill advised and 
mean spirited.
  For instance, sections 201 and 203 of the House Judiciary Committee-
reported version of H.R. 4437 would make all aliens who have at any 
time been unlawfully present in the United States aggravated felons. 
This, in turn, would subject them to mandatory detention; generally bar 
them forever from obtaining asylum, lawful permanent resident status, 
and eventual citizenship; and subject them to arrest by state and local 
law enforcement officers.
  Section 202 would dramatically expand the definition of smuggling and 
harboring illegal aliens, potentially subjecting even unknowing 
relatives, good Samaritans, and employers to severe criminal penalties 
and civil asset forfeiture of real estate, cars, and other property for 
providing even life-saving assistance to someone who turns out to be 
unlawfully present in the United States.
  Section 305 would permit States to use State Homeland Security 
Committee grants, Urban Area Security Initiative grants, or Law 
Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program grant funds for preventing or 
responding to the unlawful entry of an alien or providing support to 
another entity relating to preventing such an entity. In order to be 
permitted to use such funds for such purposes, a State would have to be 
carrying out the activity pursuant to an agreement with a Federal 
agency.
  Section 501 would make the use of expedited removal mandatory against 
aliens suspected of having entered the United States without inspection 
who are neither Mexican nor Canadian, who are apprehended within 100 
miles of the U.S. international border, and have been in the United 
States for 14 days or fewer. Detention facilities are not available to 
house all of the immigrants who will be subject to mandatory detention 
under this program.
  In fact, more than 110,000 aliens were released in FY2005 for lack of 
bed space. Section 601 would, notwithstanding treaty obligations, 
permit the U.S. government to send aliens to countries where they are 
likely to be tortured.
  Section 602 would permit the government to subject aliens to 
indefinite detention without there being any charges against the alien.
  Title VII would require the expansion of the Basic Pilot employment 
verification program to all employers, requiring that they use it to 
verify the identity and employment eligibility of each of the 54 
million persons that get hired each year and the 146 million persons 
who currently are employed in the United States. It also would 
dramatically increase the fines employers face if they hire 
undocumented workers. It also calls for a study of an enhanced social 
security card that would contain biometric and other personal 
information on a magnetic strip that all persons in the country would 
have to use when seeking employment in the United States.
  I will just mention one more example. Title VIII contains a provision 
that would strip courts of the ability to review decisions by 
immigration officers to deny relief and to deport aliens, including 
persons whose visas are revoked, persons fleeing persecution. Moreover, 
it contains a provision in section 806 that would require nonimmigrants 
coming to the United States temporarily for work, school, or as 
tourists to waive any right to any review of an immigration officer's 
decision as a precondition to getting a visa.
  Twenty years of short-sighted, enforcement-only legislation has 
created the largest illegal population in our nation's history and H.R. 
4432 is just more of the same. Far from being pro-security and pro-
enforcement, this bill actually undermines enforcement and security by 
increasing the population of people here illegally, sweeping under the 
rug the 11 million here without papers, and ignoring those who will 
still come to the U.S. because they're coming to work As the President, 
Secretary Michael Chertoff, and other key leaders in both parties have 
said, we cannot enforce our way out of the catastrophe that is our 
current immigration system. The problem demands a comprehensive, 
workable answer that restores respect for the rule of law with fair 
rules that are evenly enforced--not expansive enforcement without hope 
for success.

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