[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book I)]
[May 29, 2007]
[Pages 632-639]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, 
Georgia
May 29, 2007

    Thank you all very much. Please be seated, unless, of course, you 
don't have a chair. [Laughter] Thanks for having me. I'm honored to be 
here at the headquarters of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.
    I don't know whether you realize this or not, but the Government 
originally planned to open this center inside the Capital Beltway. No 
one looks very sad that we didn't open it in front of the Capital 
Beltway. [Laughter] It's a spectacular place to have this center. It is 
a glorious place to live. I'm honored to be in your presence. Thanks for 
letting me come by and share some thoughts with you.
    I want to thank Director Patrick for 
her strong leadership and her kind introduction. I appreciate very much 
the tour I have just taken. A lot of our fellow citizens probably don't 
know what goes on here, but this is a center full of smart, capable 
instructors who are helping to train men and women who've volunteered to 
serve our country on the frontlines of protecting the homeland. I am 
grateful to be in your midst. I thank those of you who work here; I 
thank those of you who are being trained here; and I thank your families 
as well.
    We have a mission, a vital mission, and that's to protect our 
country. And you all are on the frontlines of that protection. And it 
gives me great confidence when I meet you to tell the American people, 
there's a lot of decent souls doing everything they can to provide 
security for the American people. So thanks.
    I appreciate the folks at FLETC that I met that are working the 
border and helping train people to secure this border of ours. And I've 
come today not only to thank you but to talk about immigration. 
Immigration is a vital issue facing this country. And the fundamental 
question is, will elected officials have the courage necessary to put a 
comprehensive immigration plan in place that makes it more likely we can 
enforce our border and, at the same time, uphold the great traditions--
the immigrant traditions of the United States of America? And that's 
what I want to discuss with you.
    Before I do, I do want to introduce some people. I want to introduce 
Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez. 
I appreciate you coming, Mr. Secretary. Carlos wasn't born here, see. He 
was born in another country: Cuba. And now he sits in the Cabinet of the 
President of the United States. There's something great about a country 
that welcomes people, people who uphold our laws and realize the great 
blessings of America.

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    With us as well is Senator Mel Martinez. He wasn't born in America. He's a Senator from 
Florida. He was born in Cuba. I don't know if you know his story, but 
his mother and father put him on an airplane to come to the United 
States of America to be raised by total strangers because they didn't 
want their son to grow up under a tyrant named Fidel Castro. He used to sit in the Cabinet of the President of the 
United States; now he sits in the United States Senate. What a wonderful 
country it is, where people can come to live in a country based upon 
liberty and realize the great blessings of our country.
    And I want to mention those two 
men because, to me, they 
represent what the immigration debate is all about. Will we be a 
welcoming place, a place of law that renews our spirit by giving people 
a chance to succeed? So, Senator, thank you for coming as well.
    I've saved the other two traveling with me because they were born here--
[laughter]--starting with the United States Senator from Georgia, a 
south Georgian named Saxby Chambliss, one of the finest Senators in the 
United States Senate.
    Finally, I asked Secretary Mike Chertoff to leave the bench to become the Director of the 
Department of Homeland Security. It's a big job. It's a job that 
requires organizing various Agencies under one task, and that's to 
provide protection to the American people. And Secretary Chertoff is 
doing a fine job. I'm glad he's joined us today. Thanks for coming, Mr. 
Secretary.
    I thank all the State and local officials who are here, who have 
joined us. I appreciate you taking time to come over and say hello. I 
thank the citizens from this part of the world who have joined us as 
well. Thanks for supporting this good institution. I know you know this, 
but FLETC provides an important role for this country of ours, and I 
thank you for supporting it.
    Before I talk about immigration, I do want to offer condolences for 
Agent Robert Smith. He died last week from injuries in a helicopter 
crash. He was a Customs and Border Protection agent. He reminds us, on a 
regular basis, that those who are on the frontline of protecting the 
country take danger for--as a part of their job. And therefore, we offer 
our deepest condolences for Robert Smith's family and his friends, and 
we ask for God's blessings on them.
    Our Nation depends on our Federal agents to enforce our immigration 
laws at the border and across the country. In other words, you've got a 
big job to do. We're counting on you to enforce those laws. And when you 
graduate from FLETC, you're going to be an important part of that role. 
That's why you're here; it's to upgrade your skills so you have the 
capacity to do the job the country expects you to do. You're going to 
safeguard our ports of entry; you'll investigate workplace immigration 
violations; and you'll arrest those breaking the law. We are a nation of 
laws, and we expect people to keep the laws. And if they break the laws, 
there will be a consequence.
    This administration of mine is committed to ensuring that our 
Federal agents have the resources you need to carry out your 
responsibilities. For some of the older hands here--and I'm not going to 
pick you out of the crowd--[laughter]--I'm sure you will tell some of 
the younger folks that things have changed significantly over the past 
years. One way to measure how things have changed is, look at the 
budget. We've doubled the funding for border security since I took 
office. We now spend $10 billion a year to protect this border. One 
commitment to the American people that we're serious about helping you 
do your job is to spend more money on the job. It's a way to measure 
whether or not our--we're meeting our words with commitment. And we are.
    We've used additional money. People say, ``What are you spending it 
on?'' Well, we're expanding the number of Border Patrol agents from 
about 9,000 to 13,000, and by the end of--we have expanded it--and

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by the end of 2008, we're going to have 18,000 agents. We will have more 
than doubled the Border Patrol in a relatively quick period of time. We 
believe the more manpower is on the border, the more likely it is we'll 
be able to enforce the border, like the American people expect us to do.
    We're investing in new technology; we're strengthening 
infrastructure. In other words, we've taken our duty seriously to 
protect the border of the United States of America. As a matter of fact, 
we take it so seriously that I asked the Governors to put some National 
Guard troops down there until our Border Patrol agents got trained.
    And we're beginning to see some results. In this immigration debate, 
oftentimes people say, ``Well, they're not doing anything to protect the 
border.'' Well, that's not--those folks just simply don't know what's 
going on. You do. Men and women who wear the uniform understands what's 
going on. There's a focused, concerted effort to enforce our border.
    As a matter of fact, you can tell when the border is better defended 
because the number of arrests go down. In other words, when people know 
there's a consequence to trying to sneak across, there's less likely to 
be people sneaking across. Arrests have gone down by 27 percent over the 
past year on the southern border. That's a sign of progress. It should 
say to the American people that we're doing what the people expect us to 
do.
    The new infrastructure is making a difference. The Predators make a 
difference. The number of Border Patrol agents make a difference. I 
don't know if any of you spent time out in Artesia, New Mexico, if 
you're working for the Border Patrol, but I was impressed with boot 
camp. And they're training these Border Patrol agents to do the hard 
work that the American people expect them to do.
    One of the problems we had prior to the administration addressing 
the problem was, we had what was called--what happened was called catch-
and-release. So you had your Border Patrol working hard, finding 
somebody trying to sneak into our country illegally. They'd catch him, 
and then they say: ``Well, you know, look, you need to come back for 
your hearing. We're going to let you out, but come back for your 
hearing.'' Well, the problem was, the people didn't want to come back 
for their hearing. They generally wanted to go work, and so they would 
just disappear.
    And it discouraged our Border Patrol agents. I've talked to too many 
agents and heard too many stories about people saying: ``Wait a minute; 
I'm tired of doing my job on the frontline of protecting the border only 
to have the people that I have stopped coming in meld into our 
society.''
    And so we worked with Congress, and we've got a lot of detention 
facilities now along the border. See, we didn't have space before; now 
we do have space. And as a result, catch-and-release has virtually been 
eliminated. It sends a strong--getting rid of the catch-and-release 
program sends a strong signal to people: If you come to the country, we 
will find you, and we're going to send you home, so don't try to come in 
the first place.
    In other words, we're working hard to enforce the border. And we're 
stepping up enforcement inside the country. I see a lot of ICE hats. 
These are the folks that are charged with making sure that people who 
knowingly hire somebody who's here illegally pays a price. In other 
words, part of making sure our country is a rule of law, we've got to 
have people enforce the law. It's against the law to hire somebody who 
is here illegally; that's the law. And we're training people here to 
make sure that they know how to enforce that law. And the message is--
the message to employers--if you're hiring somebody here that you know 
is illegal, we're going to--there's a consequence to be paid. That's 
what a nation that bases its system on rule of law does, and that's what 
we'll continue to do.

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    And ICE is active. Your folks are working hard. ICE investigations 
have led to more than 3,000 arrests for immigration violations since the 
beginning of this fiscal year, nearly 600 arrests for criminal 
violations, including fraud and identity theft, and nearly $30 million 
in penalties against businesses that have violated the law.
    We're working hard to enforce the border. In the immigration debate, 
you hear people say, ``Well, they're not doing anything to enforce the 
border.'' They're wrong, and you know they're wrong. And I'm here to 
thank you for doing--for working as hard as you can.
    And now we've got to build on the progress. It's important for our 
American citizens to understand that the immigration system is in 
desperate need for comprehensive reform. And Congress has a historic 
window to act. The system isn't working. Think about a system that 
encourages smugglers to stuff people in 18-wheelers, people that want to 
work, people that want to provide for their families. Think about a 
system in which there's tremendous document forgery.
    You've got a person out here in south Georgia who needs somebody to 
help them on their farm. The person shows up with documents. They don't 
know whether they're real or not. There's a lot of forgery going on. 
We've got people--in my judgment, this isn't what America should be 
about. And yet the system is broken to the point where people are being 
used as human cargo, being exploited, simply because most want to come 
and provide for their families. Most are willing to do jobs Americans 
aren't doing. The system needs to be fixed.
    I appreciate the Republicans and Democrats in the United States 
Senate, starting with Saxby Chambliss and 
Mel Martinez, who put 
politics aside and put courage first to work on a comprehensive bill. It 
takes a lot of courage in the face of some of the criticism in the 
political world to do what's right, not what's comfortable. And what's 
right is to fix this system now before it's too late. And I thank you 
two for your courage.
    And Carlos and Mike 
Chertoff spent a lot of time sitting with 
the Senators from both political parties. I don't know if you're tired 
of it, but a lot of Americans are simply tired of this endless political 
bickering, that we can't work together because it might make somebody 
else look good. I tried to change the system. It's not working. So I 
sent the two Secretaries in there with the Senators from both parties 
and said, okay, why don't we sit down and see if we can't figure 
something that's good for the country. Each side is going to have to 
give a little bit. Not everybody is going to get everything they want, 
but what matters more is fixing the problem now.
    And we're making some progress. Most Americans--or many Americans 
say their primary concern is border security and ensuring that those who 
violate our laws face consequences. That's what you're hearing out there 
when you're listening to the debate.
    Others say their chief concern is keeping this economy strong. 
There's a--a lot of employers need a legal way to fill jobs that 
Americans simply aren't doing. There's a lot of jobs here in Georgia 
that require people from--that are willing to do the work that Americans 
aren't doing. It's just the way it is.
    You talk to your farmer friends or your nursery friends--I remember 
the peach grower, Saxby, that you sent over 
to the White House. He's there saying to me: ``You've got to understand 
something, Mr. President. My business won't go forward unless I have 
some of these good people that are willing to work long hours in my 
peach orchard helping me harvest the crop.'' So a lot of people in this 
debate are concerned about getting a bill in place that will help keep 
the economy growing.
    Others say their main concern is to bring hard-working, decent 
people out of the shadows of our society. All these concerns

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are part of the same issue, and it's important for American citizens to 
understand that the legislation now before Congress addresses them all 
as one. Our view is, is that you can't solve the problem unless you 
address all aspects of the problem. We've tried to address immigration 
reform in the past by talking about only one aspect of immigration 
reform. To make it work, to address the concerns of the American people, 
there must be a comprehensive approach.
    A lot of Americans are skeptical about immigration reform primarily 
because they don't think the Government can fix the problems. And my 
answer to the skeptics is, give us a chance to fix the problems in a 
comprehensive way that enforces our border and treats people with 
decency and respect. Give us a chance to fix this problem. Don't try to 
kill this bill before it gets moving. Give us a chance to make it easier 
for the folks who wear the uniform along our borders to do their job.
    I believe the bill before Congress learns from the mistakes of the 
past. It is the best hope for lasting reform. If people are interested 
in fixing a system that's broken, this bill is the best hope to do so. 
It answers the longstanding concerns of the American people. It deserves 
widespread support, and I strongly back it.
    If you're serious about securing our borders, it makes sense to 
support legislation that makes enforcement our highest priority, and 
that's what this bill does. For decades, we have not been in complete 
control of the borders, and many people have lost faith in our capacity 
to get control of the borders. I ask them to look at what's taken place 
over the past years, recent years. I wish they could talk to some of 
your Border Patrol friends and talk about the advances that have been 
made and the good work they're doing down there.
    The first step to comprehensive reform must be to enforce 
immigration laws at the borders and at worksites across America, and 
this is what this bill does. For the skeptics who say that we're not 
concerned about border security or workplace enforcement, they need to 
read the bill. The bill prioritizes enforcing our laws at the border and 
saying to employers, we'll hold you to account for employing somebody 
who's here illegally--knowingly employing somebody who's here illegally.
    This bill sets enforcement benchmarks that have got to be met before 
other aspects of the comprehensive bill are triggered. In other words, 
there has to be certain accomplishments in place before other aspects of 
the bill come into being. And here are some of those markers: increasing 
the number of Border Patrol agents. In other words, we said we're going 
to double them; they've got to get doubled, until other aspects of the 
bill come into being. We're going to build miles of state-of-the-art 
fencing. We're going to improve surveillance with advanced technologies. 
We will do a better job of holding employers accountable for the workers 
they hire.
    Most employers want to comply with the law. The peach grower wanted 
to comply with the law. Believe me, he's a law-abiding, decent man. His 
attitude is, why don't you help me verify the legal status of a 
potential employee, as opposed to holding me to account--which we will 
do, of course, if he knowingly hires somebody--give me a hand with the 
verification system.
    And that's why we're going to promote tamper-resistant 
identification cards. In other words, if you're here working, you're 
going to have a card that you can't tamper with, that some document 
forger can't foist off as a document for somebody to come and pick 
peaches here in Georgia.
    In other words, we've got a serious attempt in this bill, and a real 
attempt to do what a lot of Americans want us to do, and that's enforce 
the border. If you're serious about keeping our economy strong, it makes 
sense to support legislation that gives foreign workers a legal path to 
jobs in America. There are people doing jobs here Americans aren't 
doing.

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    The peach man said to me, he said, ``I can't find somebody from my 
hometown who wants to pick peaches, but I can find somebody who wants to 
put food on their table for a family from Mexico,'' for example. It 
seems to me; it makes sense to give those people a chance to come and 
work here on a temporary basis. This bill says ``temporary''; it means 
temporary. You'll be here for a number of years, and you'll go back 
home. That's what a temporary-worker plan does. In the meantime, it 
helps meet the needs of our economy.
    This bill's going to--this aspect of the bill will allow Federal 
agents to focus on apprehending violent criminals and terrorists who are 
a threat to our country rather than people who want to work here. In 
other words, if you can come to our country on a temporary basis 
legally, you're not going to sneak across the border. Who wants to pay a 
coyote hundreds of dollars or thousands of dollars when you can walk 
across and say: ``I'm going to have a temporary work--job here in this 
country, and here's my tamper-resistant card.''
    If you're interested in securing the border, wouldn't you rather 
have Border Patrol agents chasing down terrorists and gun runners and 
dope runners, as opposed to people who are coming to do jobs Americans 
aren't doing? A temporary-worker plan, that is truly temporary, is going 
to make it easier for us to enforce the border. Border enforcement and 
having a rational worker plan go hand in hand. And that's what the 
American people have got to understand.
    A temporary-worker program will not begin until our border security 
measures are in place and until we have a reliable system for verifying 
employment eligibility. That's the way the bill works. Oh, I'm sure 
you've heard some of the talk out there about people defining the bill. 
It's clear they hadn't read the bill. They're speculating about what the 
bill says, and they're trying to rile up people's emotions. This is a 
good piece of legislation. It addresses the border security needs, and 
it addresses the employment needs of our country.
    If you're serious about bringing hard-working illegal immigrants out 
of the shadows of our society, it makes sense to support legislation 
that will resolve their status without animosity and without amnesty. 
Others--I don't--they estimate 11 to 12 million people have been here 
for some--quite awhile, who are in an underground in America. It's not 
right, as far as I'm concerned. That's not what this country stands for. 
I know there are some people out there hollering and saying, ``Kick them 
out.'' That is simply unrealistic. It won't work.
    There are some people saying, ``Giving them automatic citizenship.'' 
I oppose that. It won't work. I don't think it makes any sense to do 
that. Amnesty is forgiveness for being here without any penalties; 
that's what amnesty is. I oppose it. The authors--many of the authors of 
this bill oppose it. This bill is not an amnesty bill. If you want to 
scare the American people, what you say is, the bill is an amnesty bill. 
It's not an amnesty bill. That's empty political rhetoric, trying to 
frighten our fellow citizens. People in Congress need the courage to go 
back to their districts and explain exactly what this bill is all about 
in order to put comprehensive immigration reform in place.
    Let me explain how it works. Under the bill, those who want to stay 
in our country who have been here can apply for a Z visa. At some point 
in time, those who are coming to work will get temporary-work visas. 
Those who have been here already can apply for a Z visa. To receive the 
visa, illegal workers must admit they violated the law and pay a 
meaningful penalty, pass a strict background check, hold a job, maintain 
a clean record, and eventually earn English--learn English. That's how 
it works.
    It says, if you want to be here, here's what you have to do. There 
is a consequence for having broken the law. As

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a result of a recent Senate amendment, they have to pay back taxes if 
they haven't paid taxes too. You're working hard; you pay taxes. People 
who have been here in this country ought to pay taxes. That's what it 
says.
    The hurdles to citizenship are going to be even higher. In other 
words, if somebody says: ``Fine. I'll take my Z visa. I'm out of the 
shadows now. I've got an opportunity to not hide in America. I'll 
continue doing the work I'm doing. I'm going to keep my record clean. 
I'll pay the penalties necessary so I can stay here.'' That's what it 
says. But if you want to be a citizen, there's more hurdles. It says, 
the Z visa worker would first have to pay an additional fine. In other 
words, you have broken the law, and there's a consequence for breaking 
the law. That's what the bill says.
    Secondly, you've got to return home to file an application for your 
green card. If you want to be a citizen, you pay a fine; you touch 
base--home to apply for a green card; and then you take your place 
behind those who have played by the rules and have been waiting in line 
patiently to become a citizen.
    This is a good bill. It recognizes that we've got to treat people 
with respect, and it also recognizes we're a nation of law. And as we go 
forward, the legislation creates a new system for admitting new 
immigrants to our country, people who want to come here legally. The 
system is going to reward applicants based upon skills and education, in 
addition to family ties, so we can ensure America continues to have the 
world's most talented workforce.
    This legislation is also going to help newcomers assimilate into our 
society. One of the great aspects of American society is, people have 
been able to assimilate.
    You know, I was at the Coast Guard Academy the other day, giving a 
speech there. And the president of the class, 
a Latino, talked with great pride in his voice about the fact that his 
grandfather was a migrant to the United States of America, and here he 
is addressing the Coast Guard Academy. I think it speaks volumes about 
the great promise of America. One of the reasons why, is because his 
family assimilated into our society and into our culture. The key to 
unlocking the full promise of America is the ability to speak English. 
That's the language of our country. If you can speak English in this 
country and work hard and have dreams, you can make it. That's the great 
story of America. I believe it's true today like it was true yesterday 
as well.
    We expect opportunities to help--we will expand opportunities to 
help new immigrants learn the language, learn about the ideals that make 
us a wonderful country. If you're serious about reform, it makes sense 
to support comprehensive legislation that addresses all aspects of the 
problem. You cannot solve the problem unless we address all aspects of 
the problem at the same time.
    This reform is complex. There's a lot of emotions around this issue. 
Convictions run deep. Those determined to find fault with this bill will 
always be able to look at a narrow slice of it and find something they 
don't like. If you want to kill the bill, if you don't want to do what's 
right for America, you can pick one little aspect out of it; you can use 
it to frighten people. Or you can show leadership and solve this problem 
once and for all, so the people who wear the uniform in this crowd can 
do the job we expect them to do.
    Now is the time for comprehensive immigration reform. Now is the 
time for members of both political parties to stand up and show courage 
and take a leadership role and do what's right for America.
    Thanks for letting me come by, and God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 11:31 a.m. at the Tom Steed Building. In 
his remarks, he referred to Connie L. Patrick, director, Federal Law 
Enforcement Training Center; and

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President Fidel Castro Ruz of Cuba. The Office of the Press Secretary 
also released a Spanish language transcript of these remarks.