[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9936]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    BORDER PATROL AND ILLEGAL ALIENS

  (Mr. PRICE of Georgia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Madam Speaker, multiple news reports claim that 
the U.S. Border Patrol has been ordered to stop arresting illegal 
aliens in Arizona where American citizens have been patrolling. And why 
have the agents been asked to stop these arrests? Because an increase 
in the arrest rate was proving the effectiveness of the Minuteman 
volunteers.
  I hope our government has not told agents to stop making arrests. I 
hope that the efforts of concerned citizens were not in vain.
  Our government has spent close to $240 million to monitor the Mexican 
and Canadian borders with the latest technology. The problem? The 
equipment does not work. What is clear is that the Minutemen are 
working. Border agents credited the Minutemen with cutting the flow of 
illegal aliens with the number caught dropping from 500 a day to less 
than 15 per day. Madam Speaker, new solutions are needed; we cannot 
just throw money at our problems. It is clear that a group of concerned 
citizens are doing what $240 million could not do, but we need a 
permanent fix.
  Madam Speaker, illegal immigration is not simply going to go away. We 
know there is a problem, and we must take the initiative and address 
this problem now.

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