[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 13845-13850]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 5, 2011, the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Brooks) is recognized 
for the remainder of the hour.

[[Page 13846]]


  Mr. BROOKS. Madam Speaker, according to a 2009 study by the Pew 
Hispanic Center, 7.8 million illegal aliens hold jobs in America. Madam 
Speaker, there is a sure-fire way to create jobs now for American 
citizens: evict all illegal aliens from America and immediately open up 
millions of jobs for unemployed Americans.
  The eviction of illegal aliens from America has the side benefit of 
eliminating the abundance of cheap, illegal alien labor which, in turn, 
forces blue color wages up, thus helping American families afford and 
pursue the American Dream.

                              {time}  1930

  Unfortunately, Madam Speaker, there are those in Washington who chase 
a different dream, a class warfare nightmare, that pits unemployed 
Americans against illegal aliens in a competition for scarce jobs.
  The White House and too many Members of Congress seek amnesty for 
millions of illegal aliens, thereby legitimizing criminal conduct and 
depriving American citizens of job opportunities.
  Madam Speaker, Congress and the White House must create jobs now for 
American citizens. We can and must fight for American citizens, not 
turn our heads the other way, which gives illegal aliens preference 
over American citizens.
  But the issue of illegal aliens is greater than just jobs and better 
incomes for American citizens. Illegal aliens crowd our hospital 
emergency rooms, delaying treatment for Americans and driving up health 
care costs because too many illegal aliens don't pay their bills. Too 
often, illegal aliens get free health care on the backs of our already 
stressed American taxpayers. Illegal aliens also do not produce enough 
in tax revenue to pay for our schools; yet illegal alien children 
overcrowd our schools, thereby reducing the quality of education for 
American children.
  Illegal aliens commit horrendous crimes against American citizens, 
crimes that strain State and Federal judicial systems, police and 
sheriff departments, and prisons that are already overcrowded and in a 
financial crisis.
  Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, in one of her last Supreme 
Court opinions, wrote in 2005 in Medellin v. Drake, that: ``In 2003, 
over 56,000 noncitizens were held in State prisons. Noncitizens 
accounted for over 10 percent of the prison populations in California, 
New York, and Arizona. As of February 2005, 119 noncitizens from 31 
nations were on State death row.''
  Madam Speaker, so that I am clear, let me emphasize that death row is 
not just for any kind of murderer. Death row is for murders where 
victims are tortured or raped before killed. Death row is for murders 
where multiple citizens are killed. In sum, death row is reserved for 
only the most heinous of murderers.
  Hundreds if not thousands of Americans are dead today because the 
United States Government has been derelict in its duty to protect 
American citizens from illegal aliens.
  For example, in my home of Madison County, Alabama, population 
roughly 300,000 people, we have had more American citizens killed or 
murdered by illegal aliens than we have had lost in combat in Iraq and 
Afghanistan combined. Madam Speaker, let me share with you a personal 
story that happens to have happened in Huntsville, Alabama. But, the 
truth be told, similar events have likely happened throughout America.
  On April 17, 2009, a 19-year-old man in my hometown of Huntsville by 
the name of Tad Mattle was needlessly killed by an illegal alien who 
has since been convicted of murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison, 
at a cost to Alabama taxpayers well into the hundreds of thousands of 
dollars.
  So that we are clear about the illegal alien's conduct, he was drunk. 
He was wanted for crimes in several States. When he murdered Tad 
Mattle, he was fleeing the scene of yet another crime. What had Tad 
Mattle done wrong? Absolutely nothing.
  Tad Mattle was driving home from a church social with his girlfriend. 
He was lawfully stopped at an intersection not far from my own home. 
After everything was said and done, at the end of an illegal alien 
crime spree, both Tad Mattle and his girlfriend were subject to force 
trauma and burned beyond recognition. Both died.
  Why did this needless crime occur? Why were these two young person's 
lives snuffed out? Because our American Government has steadfastly 
failed and refused to protect American citizens from illegal aliens.
  Madam Speaker, please let me share with you information about Tad 
Mattle, told in the words of his grieving father, Dan Mattle:
  Tad Mattle was the first child of Dan and Terri Mattle, born on 
November 8, 1989, in Florissant, Missouri. Tad was very curious and 
enjoyed figuring out how things worked. Shortly after his parents 
installed safety locks on all of the cupboards, he figured them out and 
then taught his little brother how to defeat them.
  He loved to play outside in the dirt and loved the water. He enjoyed 
trying different sports. More than anything, however, he loved building 
and creating. To the frustration of his parents, he would scatter Legos 
all over the floor as he created ships, starships, and airplanes. On 
family vacations, he reveled in the sand as he built sand castles. When 
he was 8 years old, he helped his father rebuild an engine on the 
family truck.
  At age 9, Tad Mattle and his family moved back to Huntsville, 
Alabama. Being very social, he quickly made new friends at church and 
school.
  In Cub Scouts, he achieved the Arrow of Light award. In his last 
year, he won the Pack Pinewood Derby Contest. In middle school, Tad 
joined the Boy Scouts and joined the school band as a percussionist. 
Tad thoroughly enjoyed making music, and he kept switching between 
first and second chair with one of his friends.
  During a scout trip in this period, Tad went caving with his father. 
By the time he was 13, he was a qualified vertical caver. By age 14, he 
had achieved a prestigious award among the caving community by 
completing his ``Vertical 8.''
  In high school, Tad Mattle became heavily involved in the marching 
and symphonic bands. In his last 2 years, he served as the percussion 
section leader.
  Tad also pursued an advanced diploma by taking advanced placement 
science and math classes. In addition to these activities, he continued 
serving the community through Boy Scout and church youth group service 
projects. With his troop, in which he served as a leader, he 
participated in many different activities.
  On a Boy Scout troop hike on the Appalachian Trail, Tad helped 
maintain morale with his goofy sense of humor. Tad is especially 
remembered for his Julie Andrews impersonation as he skipped down a 
meadow on Siler Bald, wearing a 40-pound backpack, while the troop sang 
``The Sound of Music.''
  Tad was very excited when he became old enough to drive. He wanted 
his own car, so he took a job to earn money for it. He bought a 
neglected Toyota Supra that cost only $475. He spent the next few 
months restoring it to running condition. In his junior year of high 
school, Tad took an auto body collision repair course and completely 
restored the body of that car. He was so proud on the day he brought it 
home from the paint booth. He took meticulous care of that car and 
never abused it because he did not want to destroy all of his hard 
work.
  During his senior year of high school, Tad achieved the rank of Eagle 
Scout. For his Eagle leadership service project, he chose to rebuild a 
boat dock at the Madison County Boat Harbor on the Tennessee River. The 
original dock was a hazard to users due to warped, splintered, and 
rotten boards. Tad's leadership resulted in 190 man-hours of volunteer 
labor that saved the county thousands of dollars.
  In 2008, Tad graduated from high school with an advanced diploma. His 
dream was to work in an auto body collision repair and open his own 
shop. As he worked the following summer and winter, he realized that an 
education would be necessary to fulfill his dream.

[[Page 13847]]

Tad applied to the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and with his 
excellent top 1 percent ACT score of 32, he was quickly accepted. On 
April 14, 2009, just 3 days before his murder, Tad received a letter 
awarding him the UAH Presidential Full Scholarship which covered all 
tuition for his mechanical engineering degree. Tad was so excited as he 
read this letter to his parents that night.
  Three days later, on April 17, his father's birthday, Tad attended a 
church social with his family and girlfriend. After the social, he and 
his girlfriend headed to her cousin's house to watch a movie. While 
stopped at a traffic light, Tad's car was rammed by a truck driven by a 
drunk illegal immigrant who was fleeing from the police. Tad and his 
girlfriend were killed instantly, which was a blessing because the 
impact ruptured the gas tank of the car Tad had so meticulously 
restored and burned the two beyond recognition.
  There were no skid marks from the drunken driver's vehicle, and 
accident investigations indicated the truck impacted between 67 and 72 
miles per hour, almost double the legal speed limit. The illegal 
immigrant responsible for this crash had seven different aliases, had 
four different DUI arrests, and was wanted by at least four other 
States for misdemeanors and felonies.

                              {time}  1940

  According to police records, he was to have been deported in 2001. 
Let me reread that part for emphasis. The illegal immigrant responsible 
for this crash had seven different aliases, had four prior DUI arrests, 
and was wanted by at least four other States for misdemeanors and 
felonies. According to police records, he was to have been deported in 
2001.
  Tad left behind a family that still mourns his loss. His brother and 
sister have dealt with depression, nightmares, and guilt. His mother 
still deals with days of depression. This loss was completely 
unnecessary but occurred because of a failure by the Federal Government 
to perform its duty to protect legal citizens' rights to life, liberty, 
and the pursuit of happiness. As Tad's father, all I ask is that the 
government perform its Constitutional obligations to its citizens to 
prevent other families from experiencing this same nightmare.
  Madam Speaker, Tad Mattle's tragic story is one of many that I could 
tell here today, and his story illustrates so clearly why the Federal 
Government must stop being derelict in its duty to ensure the safety 
and security of American citizens.
  There are many Tad Mattles in America, each and every one of them 
victims of crimes that could have been prevented. In that vein, I 
introduced the Jobs for Americans Act. It empowers State and local 
governments to help the Federal Government by passing laws that 
identify illegal aliens, deter illegal aliens from entering the United 
States, apprehend illegal aliens, or encourage or otherwise cause 
illegal aliens to leave the United States.
  States aren't asking for another Federal handout. They're asking for 
freedom from Federal interference. They're asking for the freedom to 
protect their citizens' lives and livelihoods. This act ensures that 
the Federal Government will appreciate, not punish, States that do the 
hard work of enforcing our laws.
  Madam Speaker, when States like Arizona, Alabama, Georgia, and many 
others act to stop illegal aliens, they should be given letters of 
appreciation from Washington leaders for doing Washington's job. 
Instead, they receive lawsuits from the President's Justice Department. 
That is wrong. And the Justice Department's conduct will only victimize 
more American citizens.
  Madam Speaker, my Jobs for Americans Act prevents these wasteful 
Justice Department lawsuits against States that are only trying to 
protect their citizens from illegal aliens and the Federal Government's 
dereliction of its duties.
  Today, I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting American jobs. 
The Jobs for Americans Act does just what it says. It returns jobs to 
the American people. Its premise is simple. If the Federal Government 
won't do its job, it should get out of the way for States and those who 
will.
  At this point, I yield to my good colleague from Alabama.
  Mr. ADERHOLT. Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate the gentleman 
from Alabama, my colleague in the Fifth Congressional District, for 
organizing this tonight. We are all here tonight to discuss what 
America is facing, and that is a self-imposed security crisis.
  The main concern is that it appears that the administration is 
ignoring its responsibility to enforce our Nation's immigration laws. 
For our security, economic well-being, and safety, immigration 
enforcement does matter.
  Since the beginning of the current administration, we have seen 
decisions and policies that have denigrated immigration enforcement. It 
started with the identification of ``priorities'' where the Department 
of Homeland Security announced it would focus largely on removing only 
those aliens convicted of serious crimes.
  More recently, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, as it is 
referred to, issued guidance directing broad use of prosecutorial 
discretion. Let me explain how that works. ICE agents locate a fugitive 
who has been ordered to be removed. The fugitive is arrested in his 
apartment where four other people are present. ICE agents ascertain 
that all these individuals are illegal aliens, though they do not have 
an actual criminal conviction. Pursuant to ICE priorities, these 
individuals would not be arrested.
  This process on whether to prosecute or not was intended to be 
exercised on a case-by-case basis, not by front-line officers directed 
to ignore the law, but by supervisors and attorneys looking at the law 
and the facts of a particular case and considering humanitarian 
concerns or national security interests. Now, front-line agents and 
officers in the middle of an encounter are being asked to essentially 
conduct an on-the-spot investigation.
  Under the administration's policy, front-line officers and agents 
don't have much of a choice but to ignore the law and leave the illegal 
alien behind, unless the alien is a fugitive or has an actual criminal 
conviction.
  Not only do we have memos directing front-line officers to ignore 
illegal aliens under the current administration, but we have committees 
second-guessing decisions officers, attorneys, and judges make. The 
Department of Homeland Security set up a task force of outsiders to 
tell the Secretary whether this policy should include ignoring illegal 
aliens encountered at traffic stops and those who would have drunk 
driving violations. The Department is also establishing a committee to 
review all 400,000 immigration proceedings, including for aliens with 
final removal orders, to decide whether these illegal aliens should 
actually be removed.
  This is the problem, and it leads to cases like the one that my 
colleague from Alabama just talked about, Tad Mattle. The new policy, 
in effect, refuses to enforce immigration law until, and let me stress 
that, until a serious, perhaps violent crime, has been committed. If 
immigration law had been enforced, Tad's life may have been spared.
  Today, more than ever, our Nation's fiscal resources are constrained. 
Despite that fact, this body has made immigration enforcement and 
homeland security a priority. Congress, under both Republican and 
Democrat leadership, has consistently provided ICE with funds above 
those funds they have requested, and that's to ensure strong 
enforcement and security. Funds the Department of Homeland Security 
received at the hand of this Chamber should not be used to blatantly 
ignore the law or for the implementation of flawed and reckless 
policies that provide backdoor amnesty.
  These memos and committees may allow millions of illegal immigrants 
to remain in the United States in violation of existing law and 
regulation and compete with unemployed Americans and legal immigrants 
working for scarce jobs.
  While the Federal Government seems to find loopholes to keep illegal 
aliens who pose public safety threats in this

[[Page 13848]]

country, States like my home State of Alabama are being prosecuted for 
attempting to take this problem into their own hands. Alabama and other 
States burdened with these issues shouldn't have to worry about Federal 
intervention. Alabama was the fifth State in this country to adopt laws 
addressing illegal immigration. The legislature of Alabama and the 
Governor have opted to act. Instead, the administration has filed a 
judicial action. The administration should take this as a wake-up call, 
a bold reminder of the Federal Government's duty to protect each and 
every American from being the victim of crimes that can so easily be 
prevented. The Federal Government should be working with States to 
ensure the safety of all Americans.
  This is not a time for partisan politics. This is a time for a 
robust, coordinated effort to guarantee the security of our citizens 
and to protect our Nation's borders.
  I thank the gentleman from Alabama for yielding.
  Mr. BROOKS. Madam Speaker, I next recognize the gentlelady from 
Tennessee, Congresswoman Diane Black.
  Mrs. BLACK. I thank the gentleman from Alabama for yielding.
  Madam Speaker, the tragic death of Tad Mattle that took place in 
Huntsville, Alabama, on April 17, 2009, serves as a sad reminder of the 
broken immigration system that we have here in the United States. We 
see stories like this in our local newspapers and on our local and 
national news. They're reminders that we have a serious illegal 
immigration problem in our country and the need to take action to 
secure our borders. As a member of the Immigration Reform Caucus, I 
believe that while we are a nation of immigrants, we are first and 
foremost a nation of laws. I'm a cosponsor of a number of comprehensive 
bills that would help combat illegal immigration. One bill, the CLEAR 
Act, would authorize State and local law enforcement to assist in the 
enforcement of the U.S. immigration laws, which means that they can 
investigate, apprehend, and transfer over to ICE officials illegal 
aliens in the United States.

                              {time}  1950

  Another bill that I'm cosponsoring goes after sanctuary cities, 
denying State Criminal Alien Assistance Program funding for any State 
or local government that has in place any law, policy, or procedure 
that breaks Federal immigration law.
  The SAVE Act is another great bill. The SAVE Act would increase 
Border Patrol and investigative personnel, encourage recruitment of 
former military personnel and use of Department of Defense equipment, 
calls on the administration to develop a national strategy to secure 
our borders and, finally, directs authorities to check against 
terrorist watch lists those persons suspected of alien smuggling and 
smuggled individuals.
  Defense of our country and securing our borders is one of the primary 
responsibilities of government, and I believe that those who enter this 
country illegally are not only breaking the law, but risking the very 
security of this country.
  I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. BROOKS. Madam Speaker, I next recognize the gentleman from 
Georgia, Congressman Rob Woodall.
  Mr. WOODALL. I appreciate my friend from Alabama for yielding.
  Candidly, I can't say it much better than my freshman colleague from 
Tennessee just did. We are a Nation of immigrants, and we are a Nation 
of laws. And my question is, When did it become so clear to everyone 
else that those things were in conflict with one another? Because when 
I look at it, it's not in conflict at all; in fact, it's in concert, in 
concert with one another.
  It was hard to listen to the story that my friend from Alabama was 
telling because it's not a story that you only hear once. It's a story 
that you hear heartbroken families tell over and over and over again. 
It's a family in Alabama, it's a family in Georgia, it's a mom in South 
Carolina, and it's a grandmother from Indiana, and on and on and on.
  What I want to know is, Who is it who's coming to defend that story 
tonight? Because I hear it in town hall meetings all the time, and I 
know my friend from Alabama hears the same thing: Rob, I want you to go 
up there and I want you to fight for what's right, and I don't want you 
to compromise. Well, I don't want to compromise on principle. There is 
absolutely no principle I have that I'm interested in compromising on. 
But what I tell folks back home is there's common ground. There's 
common ground where no matter where you sit on the political spectrum 
you can see your way clear to this path forward.
  What I want to know from my colleagues--and I wish there were more of 
them in the Chamber tonight--and, again, I'm grateful to my friend from 
Alabama for putting this hour together--but where are the folks who 
oppose enforcing the laws? Where are the folks who believe that legal 
immigration is what we don't want and illegal immigration is what we do 
want?
  Where are the folks who believe that when criminals commit crimes, 
they're not supposed to be prosecuted? Where are those folks defending 
that? Because what I see in my part of the world--and I'm there in the 
northeastern suburbs of Atlanta--what I see in my part of the world are 
people who are proud of our history as an immigrant Nation and proud of 
our future as an immigrant Nation.
  I tell folks all the time I don't worry that people want to come to 
America. I worry about the one day people don't want to come to 
America. What happens when they want to take their big brain and their 
hard work ethic and their entrepreneurial ideas and take it to China or 
take it to India or take it to Brazil? I worry about that.
  We have so many challenges, as my friend from Alabama knows, in terms 
of restructuring our legal immigration process. I am heartbroken that 
we spend even a moment arguing amongst ourselves about the necessity of 
shutting down illegal immigration now--not tomorrow, not a week from 
tomorrow, not after the next election cycle, today.
  Of the few things that the United States Constitution empowers the 
Federal Government to do, requires that the Federal Government do, 
enforcing our border security is one; and we don't do that well. We 
have so many conversations down here, as the Speaker knows, about all 
the things the Federal Government should stick its nose into, as if 
we're going to do those well. What about the one the Constitution 
requires us to do, which is secure our borders?
  For me, the untalked-about victim in the illegal immigration debate 
is the legal immigrant. Have you ever been to a naturalization 
ceremony? Do you have any friends who have been naturalized, who have 
earned the right to be a United States citizen? Wow. Wow. It's tears, 
but it's tears of joy. I wish we were teaching the same thing to our 
young people in schools that we're teaching to our immigrants in their 
citizenship classes, who are developing this deep and abiding respect 
for the rule of law and the American way of life.
  And the victim, when we turn a blind eye to illegal immigration, is 
the legal immigrant who does it all right because they're the victim of 
the animus that comes out of this debate. They're a victim of the 
sadness. In fact, I will tell you, the angriest people--again, I come 
from the Deep South. A lot of folks have a lot of stereotypes about how 
it is in the Deep South. But I will tell you, the angriest people in my 
part of the world about illegal immigration are not the ninth 
generation white guy; it's the legal immigrants.
  Somebody stopped me the other day and they said, Rob, if you ever 
pass an amnesty bill--which we never will do, just to be clear, never, 
ever going to happen, not while I'm here in Congress--give me my money 
back. You can't give me my life back; you can't give me back all the 
years and years and years I worked and I waited on the list and I 
waited patiently in my home country until my number came up, you can't 
give me that back, but I want my money back because it wasn't cheap. 
It's not. Being a United States citizen is advanced citizenship. It 
requires

[[Page 13849]]

great commitments, as it is a great opportunity; and we treat it in 
this country as if it's a nothing.
  As my friend from Alabama knows, there's another bill, introduced by 
my friend from Iowa (Mr. King), called the Birthright Citizenship Act--
and I'm a cosponsor of that act--that goes back to the 14th Amendment. 
It goes back to that time in this country when we were struggling with 
our national identity and says those born in the United States, under 
the jurisdiction thereof, shall be United States citizens.
  As you tell the story, I say to my friend from Alabama, of someone 
who has been convicted of crime after crime after crime, of someone who 
has warrants out for their arrest across the United States, of someone 
who hasn't yet found a single American law that they have chosen to 
obey, I tell you that person is not under the jurisdiction of the 
United States, and births that are associated with that person do not 
give rise to citizenship in the United States.
  But the courts have said Congress just won't decide on this; Congress 
won't take a stand on this. Well, Steve King of Iowa said, yes, we 
will. And I was proud to join him on that to define what is the 
greatest gift we have in this country, and that's the gift of American 
citizenship. I was born with it, and I'm grateful for it every day of 
the week, but we treat it like it's nothing. And I will say to folks 
who think that it's nothing, go to one of these naturalization 
ceremonies. Talk to your friends and neighbors who have worked for it 
and earned it, and they will tell you that it's something.
  And in the army that we're developing across America to come and 
stand strong on the issue of illegal immigration, the army that's 
forming across America to say we are proud that we're a Nation of 
immigrants, but we're even more proud that we're a Nation of laws, that 
army is composed of legal immigrants of every stripe from coast to 
coast, from north to south. It makes me so proud because I think that's 
what America is all about.
  I want to go back and say to the gentleman from Alabama, thank you 
for introducing the American Jobs Act. For folks who look those things 
up on TV, it's H.R. 2670, I believe; is that correct?
  Mr. BROOKS. Yes.
  Mr. WOODALL. Again, where are those folks? We're not talking about 
compromising our principles; we're talking about pursuing those things 
that are common ground. In this era of 10 percent unemployment, who are 
those folks who think that hardworking, taxpaying American citizens 
don't deserve that job first if they're willing to work for it? Who is 
that?
  I'm sure that there has been an editorial or two in your local 
newspapers--if your newspapers are anything like mine--that have not 
reacted all that kindly to your decision to stand up and do what is 
right. But doing what's right is not always easy, and it's rarely 
appreciated in its time. It's often appreciated as history writes it. 
But who is it who believes that folks who have paid their taxes for a 
decade, who have been laid off in the middle part of their life, who 
can't afford to send their kids to college, who can't afford to buy 
medicine for their wife? Who are those people who believe that those 
folks don't deserve first crack at that job? First crack.

                              {time}  2000

  We have a legal immigration process in place in this country that 
will allow you to come here the right way, get a green card the right 
way, and apply for jobs just like everybody else. Folks do it. Do it, 
and I welcome you.
  But in this era of unemployment, who are those folks who defend this 
practice of illegal labor? I will tell you, it's not just the folks who 
go to work. It's the folks who employ those folks who go to work. This 
is not about illegal immigrants alone. This is about those businesses 
that hire those illegal immigrants.
  A crime is a crime here in this country. They're not all the 
heartbreaking crimes that my friend from Alabama has described, but 
they are crimes that have consequences. These are not victimless 
crimes. Illegal immigration is not a victimless crime.
  The victim could be that American who can't find a job to support his 
kids and his family. The victim could be that school district that 
can't afford to sort out how those classes are going to go, that can't 
afford all the teachers, but has an increasing workload because of the 
children associated with illegal immigration today.
  The victim could be that health care system that can't treat folks as 
they'd like to treat them, doesn't have enough money to deal with the 
community as it is, and the burden keeps growing and growing and 
growing. It is not a victimless crime.
  In terms of finding common ground, I looked at my friend Rob Bishop's 
bill. Rob Bishop is from Utah, and he's introduced H.R. 1505, the 
National Security and Federal Lands Act.
  Now, the preposterous things that we discuss here in Washington, this 
is one. Look it up for yourself. H.R. 1505, what it does is it changes 
the law, changes the law so that Border Patrol agents can access areas 
of the border. Hear that. There is a bill in this Congress to change 
the law so that Border Patrol agents can get access to the border. 4.3 
million acres of border designated wilderness along our southern 
border, and in those areas the Border Patrol can't use motorized 
vehicles, can't construct roads, can't even install security and 
communication apparatus. Hear that. Hear that.
  The law of the land in America today is that the Border Patrol agents 
cannot patrol the borders. H.R. 1505 will change that, and I hope we'll 
pass that here.
  I want to say finally to my friend from Alabama, you and I are both 
new here. I've only been here 9 months, and I'm learning something 
every day here. I was more than a little bit surprised when the 
administration came out and said, no, it's really not whether or not 
you're illegal; it's whether or not you're illegal and when we make our 
decisions about whether or not to deport you.
  But what I learned in that conversation is that we have a backlog of 
deportations in this country. When we talk about funding priorities in 
this country, for the last 9 months I've been focusing on funding the 
Border Patrol. I thought what we needed were more boots on the ground, 
and I still believe we do. But what I have learned from the 
administration is we also need more bottoms in the seats in immigration 
courtrooms across this country. We may need more immigration judges. If 
we don't have enough people to process all the deportations that are in 
line, what we need is not to stop the deportations; what we need is to 
hire more people to process those deportations.
  I tell you, I'm a small government conservative. You're not going to 
find many government programs that I want to come down here and spend 
money on. But again, the Constitution has given to you and me the 
responsibility of enforcing this part of the law, has given us the 
responsibility of securing our borders; and if what it takes to be 
successful is spending more money to hire more immigration court judges 
to fill more buses to comply with more of the law that is, in fact, the 
law of the land, then I'm prepared to do that.
  I appreciate the administration, again, for educating me in that way, 
because I had no idea that we were so successful at identifying folks 
and we just weren't successful at finishing that deportation process.
  So I say to my friend from Alabama, again, I so much appreciate his 
leadership on this issue. I am a proud supporter of the Jobs for 
Americans Act. I look forward to bipartisan support on that act 
because, again, we're not talking about asking anyone to compromise 
their principles. We're asking people to celebrate that we are an 
immigrant nation and that we are a nation of laws. And I tell you, I 
don't want to live in a nation that is willing to give up on either one 
of those, and we don't have to.
  I thank my friend.
  Mr. BROOKS. Madam Speaker, I want to express my thanks for the 
eloquence of Congressmen Rob Woodall of Georgia, Diane Black of 
Tennessee,

[[Page 13850]]

and Robert Aderholt of the State of Alabama.
  I pray that the American people and Washington, D.C., will be mindful 
of the loss of Tad Mattle, the suffering of his family, and the 
sufferings of hundreds, if not thousands, of other Americans under 
similar, yet difficult, circumstances, all brought about because our 
Federal Government is derelict in its duty to protect American citizens 
from the conduct of illegal aliens.
  With that, Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________