[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 19984-19985]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 NOMINATION OF FRANCISCO AUGUSTO BESOSA

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I would have voted in support of the 
nomination of Francisco Augusto Besosa to the U.S. District Court for 
the District of Puerto Rico. However, I was on my way back from Montana 
and was unable to make it to the Senate floor before the vote ended.
  Mr. Besosa is well qualified for the position and will be a good 
addition to the court.
  Francisco Augusto ``Frank'' Besosa is partner and head of the 
litigation department of Adsuar Muniz Goyco Besosa, P.S.C. in San Juan, 
Puerto Rico. After graduating from Brown University in 1971, he served 
5 years in active military service in military intelligence. He was 
honorably discharged from Inactive Reserve from the U.S. Army with the 
rank of captain in 1977. He earned a J.D. from Georgetown University 
Law Center in 1979. After law school, Mr. Besosa returned to Puerto 
Rico and joined the law firm of O'Neill & Borges.
  With the exception of 3 years in the 1980s as an assistant U.S. 
attorney, Mr. Besosa has spent his entire legal career in private 
practice in several firms conducting civil and commercial litigation in 
Puerto Rico. His work has focused on banking and bankruptcy; securities 
regulation; admiralty; insurance; torts including personal injury, 
medical malpractice, and product liability; telecommunications and 
intellectual property both at the trial and appellate level.
  Mr. Besosa is a member of numerous bars including the Puerto Rico Bar 
Association, the Federal Bar Association, American Bar Association, 
District of Columbia Bar Association, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 
First Circuit and the Federal Circuit, and the Hispanic National Bar 
Association. He has held a variety of leadership positions in the 
Federal Bar Association Puerto Rico Chapter including director, 
president-elect, vice president, secretary and treasurer.
  The ABA has recommended Mr. Besosa for the position with a unanimous 
``well qualified'' rating.
  Given his qualifications and experience, Mr. Besosa is a good fit for 
the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. I would have 
supported his nomination.
  Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the Secure Fence 
Act of 2006 and the issue of securing our northern border. Without 
question, securing the border is our most vital need in dealing with 
illegal immigrants and as it stands, our borders lay vulnerable to not 
only an influx of illegal immigrants but also transportation of 
dangerous materials. The facts are clear--each year over 1 million 
unauthorized aliens are interdicted entering the country mostly on the 
southwest

[[Page 19985]]

border. Testimony by the Border Patrol union chief places the estimate 
of illegal entrants not interdicted by Border Patrol to be two times 
those actually caught. Simply put, the Border Patrol is overwhelmed by 
the sheer volume of the traffic and it is time to take action.
  The Secure Fence Act of 2006 requires the Secretary of Homeland 
Security to take all appropriate actions to achieve operational control 
over all U.S. international land and maritime borders within 18 months 
of its enactment. Additionally, the bill authorizes 700 miles of 
double-layered fencing at specified locations along the almost 2,000-
mile southwest U.S. international border with Mexico.
  This bill also takes the right approach in terms of northern border 
security. The legislation requires the Department of Homeland Security 
to conduct a study on the feasibility of a state of-the-art 
infrastructure security system along the northern international land 
and maritime border of the United States. The study shall include the 
necessity of implementing such a system, the feasibility of 
implementing such a system and the economic impact implementing such a 
system will have along the northern border.
  In my home state of Minnesota, we share 547 miles of border with 
Canada and 458 of those miles are a water boundary. I want to make it 
clear to my constituents and our Canadian friends that this legislation 
should not be used to justify construction of a wall along the northern 
border but to take an inventory of the systems that are working and not 
working and ensure that we put in place the most effective approach. We 
are going to measure twice before building once.
  The United States and Canada share a long history of working together 
on issues of mutual concern. Both countries share a common border and 
common objectives: to ensure that the border is open for business, but 
closed to crime. The Canada-United States Smart Border Declaration and 
Action Plan and programs such as the Security and Prosperity 
Partnership and the Integrated Border Enforcement Teams are great 
examples of cooperative initiatives that have proven successful.
  I am fully confident this strong relationship and commitment to 
border security will continue as it is one of the cornerstones to 
securing our northern border.

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