    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book II)]
    [October 22, 2005]
    [Pages 1576-1577]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    October 22, 2005

        Good morning. This week I signed into law a bill that supports our
    ongoing efforts to defend our homeland.
        To defend this country, we have to enforce our borders. When our
    borders are not secure, terrorists, drug dealers, and criminals find it
    easier to sneak into America. My administration has a clear strategy for
    dealing with this problem: We want to stop people from crossing into
    America illegally and to quickly return the illegal immigrants we catch
    back to their home countries.
        For the past 4 years, we've been implementing this strategy. To stop
    illegal immigrants from coming across our borders, we've added manpower,
    upgraded our technology, and taken the final steps necessary to complete
    a 14-mile barrier running along the San Diego border with Mexico.
        To enforce our immigration laws within our borders, we've hired more
    immigration agents, gone after criminal gangs, and targeted smugglers
    and coyotes who traffic in human beings. We are getting results: Since
    2001, we have removed more than 4.8 million illegal immigrants from the
    United States, including more than 300,000 with criminal records.
        Our border patrol and immigration agents are doing a fine job, but
    we still have a problem. Too many illegal immigrants are coming in, and
    we're capturing many more non-Mexican illegal immigrants than we can
    send home. And one of the biggest reasons we cannot send them back is
    that we lack space in our detention facilities to hold them until they
    are removed. When there's no bed available, non-Mexicans who are caught
    entering our country illegally are given a slip that tells them to come
    back for a court appearance. Most never show up, and then they disappear
    back into the shadows of our communities. This is called ``catch-and-
    release,'' and it is unacceptable.
        The bill I signed includes $7.5 billion that will help us address
    the problem of illegal immigration in two important ways. First, it
    provides more than $2.3 billion for the Border Patrol so we can keep
    more illegal immigrants from getting into the country in the first
    place. These funds will help us hire a thousand new border patrol
    agents, improve our technology and intelligence, expand and improve
    Border Patrol stations, and install and improve fencing, lighting,
    vehicle barriers, and roads along our border areas. I appreciate the
    help Congress has given us for our common goal of creating more secure
    borders.
        Second, this bill also provides $3.7 billion for Immigration and
    Customs Enforcement so we can find and return the illegal immigrants who
    are entering our country. With these funds, we can expand the holding
    capacity of our detention facilities by 10 percent. This will allow us
    to hold more non-Mexican illegal immigrants while we process them
    through a program we call ``expedited removal.'' This will make the
    process faster and more efficient. Putting more non-Mexican illegal
    immigrants through expedited removal is crucial to sending back people
    who have come here illegally. As Secretary Chertoff told the Senate this week, our goal is to return
    every single illegal entrant, with no exceptions. And this bill puts us
    on the path to do that.
        For Mexicans who cross into America illegally, we have a different
    plan but the same goal. Now, most of the 900,000 illegal immigrants from
    Mexico who are caught each year are immediately escorted back across the
    border. The problem is that these illegal immigrants are able to connect
    with another smuggler or ``coyote'' and come right back in. So one part
    of the

    [[Page 1577]]

    solution is a program called ``interior repatriation'' where we fly or
    bus these illegal immigrants all the way back to their hometowns in the
    interior of Mexico. By returning illegal Mexican immigrants to their
    homes, far away from desert crossings, we're saving lives and making it
    more difficult for them to turn right around and cross back into
    America.
        As we improve and expand our efforts to secure our borders, we must
    also recognize that enforcement cannot work unless it's part of a
    comprehensive immigration reform that includes a temporary-worker
    program. If an employer has a job that no American is willing to take,
    we need to find a way to fill that demand by matching willing employers
    with willing workers from foreign countries on a temporary and legal
    basis. I'll work with Members of Congress to create a program that will
    provide for our economy's labor needs without harming American workers
    and without granting amnesty, and that will relieve pressure on our
    borders.
        A critical part of any temporary-worker program is ensuring that our
    immigration laws are enforced at work sites. America is a country of
    laws. We must not allow dishonest employers to flout those laws. So
    we've doubled the resources for work site enforcement since 2004.
        We have much more work ahead of us. But the Homeland Security bill I
    signed this week provides vital support for our efforts to deal with the
    problem of illegal immigration and make all Americans safer and more
    secure.
        Thank you for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 12:20 p.m. on October 21 in Los
    Angeles, CA, for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on October 22. The transcript
    was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on October 21
    but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. The Office of the
    Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of this
    address.