[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 19040-19046]
[From the U.S. 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 
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

[[Page 19041]]

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 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

[[Page 19042]]

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-to-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. Hay-
worth) 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 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

[[Page 19043]]

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 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

[[Page 19044]]

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 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

[[Page 19045]]

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 
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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