[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 113 (Thursday, July 29, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1466-E1467]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    EMERGENCY BORDER SECURITY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2010

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. GARY G. MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 28, 2010

  Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of 
H.R. 5875, but am disappointed the bill does not contain critical 
spending for the overwhelmed district courts along our Nation's 
Southwest border.
  During the last several years, stepped up enforcement and prosecution 
efforts in Southwest border jurisdictions have resulted in a 
significant increase in the number of drug, immigration, and weapons 
cases being filed in courts along the border. Consequently, the current 
workload experienced by the five district courts along the Southwest 
border is staggering. When combined, border districts handled nearly 75 
percent of criminal immigration cases in the Nation's 94 districts in 
fiscal year 2009 and almost 40 percent of all the Nation's federal 
criminal case filings.
  Here's a brief snapshot of the district court in Arizona:
  Last year in the Tucson division of the district court for Arizona, 
felony cases and defendants increased by more than 65 percent

[[Page E1467]]

from the previous year. Ninety percent of those cases were drug and 
immigration related. In addition, there were 300,000 apprehensions 
during the first six months of 2009, and 1.2 million pounds of 
marijuana were seized. Although the court facility is sized to handle 
no more than 120 detainees a day, at one point the Tucson court 
processed 323 detainees in a single day.
  It is clear that the Judiciary's resources must continue to keep pace 
with these workload increases.
  As written, the Border Security Emergency Supplemental provides a 
total of $701 million for border security. Spending in the bill 
includes critical funding for border patrol agents, Department of 
Justice programs, Customs and Border Protection, among other items.
  While this spending is needed to secure our border and protect our 
communities from the escalating drug-related violence, it must be 
coupled with adequate resources to the Judiciary in order to keep pace 
with the anticipated growth in workload. As it stands now, the district 
courts along the Southwest border are already overwhelmed and 
understaffed.
  In June, the Judicial Conference of the United States wrote to the 
Office of Management and Budget Director, Peter Orszag, requesting $40 
million for the Judiciary. To ensure the federal government's stepped-
up border security plan is full-circle, several of my colleagues and I 
have urged Congressional Appropriators to make these funds available to 
the Judiciary.
  Unfortunately, the $40 million requested for the Judiciary is not 
included in this emergency spending bill. Without these resources, a 
bottleneck in the judicial system will occur because the courts will 
lack the resources necessary to process the additional criminal cases 
brought by the Department of Justice.
  As Congress continues to debate a comprehensive border security 
strategy, we must consider the Judiciary. It would be a shame to spend 
so much money on border security and then fail to provide the Judiciary 
the resources necessary to ensure justice is met along the border.

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