[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8339]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                THE CLEAR ACT OF 2005 AND THE MINUTEMEN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. NORWOOD. Madam Speaker, this month the Minuteman Project has 
accomplished with just a few hundred citizen volunteers what the 
Federal Government has been unable to do and actually told us was 
impossible to do, and that is stopping illegal immigrants crossing our 
borders.
  In the process of focusing the Nation's attention on the insecurity 
of our borders, they have succeeded in bringing new information to the 
debate on the overall immigration crisis in this Nation. The new 
information is critical to this body's consideration of a specific 
policy area, probably and frankly the one area in which all Americans 
should be in 100 percent agreement, and that is protecting Americans 
from criminal illegal immigrants.
  U.S. Border Patrol Sector Chief Michael Nicely is head of the entire 
260 mile long Tucson Sector of our border, the worst in the Nation for 
illegal immigration, and the same sector where the Minutemen shutdown a 
23 mile portion of that sector.
  What should be horrifying to all Americans is what Chief Nicely told 
Government Executive Magazine just last week. He says that since 
November, the Border Patrol agents have caught 17,000 criminal illegal 
aliens trying to enter our country through just through this one 260 
mile sector; 17,000 criminal illegal aliens. That is not total illegal 
aliens now, just the criminals. Overall, Chief Nicely's sector has 
arrested more than a quarter of a million people trying to enter this 
country illegally just since Thanksgiving.
  Last year, I introduced legislation specifically targeting against 
criminal illegal aliens. The Clear Law Enforcement For Criminal Aliens 
Removal Act, or we call it the CLEAR Act, gained the support of some 
125 Members. Our purpose is fairly simple: State and local law 
enforcement personnel would be fully authorized to investigate, 
apprehend, and, if necessary, remove criminal aliens in the United 
States.
  Already this year our Justice Department has asked for help from 
local law enforcement on this issue. According to Reuters News, the 
Bush administration now recognizes that, ``The United States has freed 
numerous illegal aliens into the community who are dangerous murderers, 
rapists and child molesters under a legal loophole created by Supreme 
Court decisions, and that ``Congress should urgently pass legislation 
to close this loophole, which has already resulted in the release of 
several extremely violent offenders, with others scheduled to be 
released soon.''
  According to the report, U.S. Justice Department Deputy Assistant 
Attorney General Jonathan Cohn made this request of the Committee on 
the Judiciary of the House of Representatives on March 14.
  We have the legislative draft to do just what they want, this year's 
pending version of the CLEAR Act. We plan to introduce the 2005 version 
within the next few weeks. We do welcome constructive input from the 
administration, from Members of both parties and members of both 
houses. But from what we have learned thus far from the Minuteman 
Project, the CLEAR Act cannot be a stand-alone remedy for stopping the 
hordes of vicious foreign criminals invading our country to murder, 
rape and molest Americans.
  My one bill will not do it, not by itself. We can provide local and 
State law enforcement with the tools to remove these criminal elements 
through guaranteed deportation. We can help Homeland Security do their 
job. But it does little if they can simply pour back across unsecured 
borders. You have gotten nothing done.
  The CLEAR Act, therefore, will become a critical component of overall 
immigration and border reform. I urge every Member in this body to join 
in this effort with the CLEAR Act. In return, I pledge to support 
whatever legislative measures that are necessary to secure our borders. 
That includes a total military closing, if necessary, to stop these 
criminals. I fully understand the meaning of ``closing,'' even if it is 
a temporary closing. It is a time we in this body are going to be able 
to declare whose side are we on.

                              {time}  2115

  Are we on the side of fellow Americans, or are we on the side of 
those of the new world order who want no borders? It is that simple. 
The vote will come down to just that.

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