Posted on 03/17/2005 7:03:53 AM PST by OXENinFLA
Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment is as follows: (Purpose: To fully fund the level of Border Patrol Agents authorized by National Intelligence Reform Act of 2004 and as recommended by the 9/11 Commission)
On page 23, line 16, increase the amount by $352,400,000.
On page 23, line 17, increase the amount by $317,000,000.
On page 23, line 21, increase the amount by $35,400,000.
On page 9, line 15, decrease the amount by $352,400,000.
On page 9, line 16, decrease the amount by $317,000,000.
On page 9, line 20, decrease the amount by $35,400,000.
Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, this is an amendment cosponsored by myself and Senator Ensign. Senator Ensign has done so much work in this area on the intelligence reform bill, assuring there would be 2,000 authorized Border Patrol agents. We also have as cosponsors Senators Domenici, Cornyn, McCain, Kyl, and Feinstein. Mr. President, I would like to be notified at the end of 10 minutes, after which I will yield the rest of the time to the Senator from Nevada.
Earlier this month, FBI Director Mueller told Congress that people from countries with ties to al-Qaida are crossing into the United States through our porous border with Mexico.
Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security James Loy recently said that intelligence reports suggest al-Qaida is considering using the Southwest border to infiltrate into the United States, either with falsified documents or by crossing the border in other illegal ways.
We have today 11,000 Border Patrol agents for the borders between Mexico, the United States, and Canada, as well as in the Border Patrol centers that are throughout our country. It is clearly not enough.
Mr. President, 97 percent of illegal intruders are filtering through the Southwest border. But they do not stay in the South. They go throughout our country.
The Border Patrol does an amazing job. We applaud their work. But we need to give them more help. Recent stories and intelligence reports show that terrorists are planning to use our border, and it should be a wakeup call.
Since 2001, 1,300 agents have been added to the force. But we have 6,900 miles of border with Canada and Mexico. My State of Texas alone has over 1,200 miles of border with Mexico. In most places there are no fences. In Texas, the Rio Grande River can sometimes be waded across or is completely dry.
We are seeing an increase of 137 percent in immigrants who are from countries other than Mexico. These immigrants, which are called OTMs, ``other than Mexicans,'' are coming into our country in the largest numbers we have ever seen. But due to a lack of resources, they are often caught and released, or they are not caught at all.
Recognizing our serious border vulnerability, Congress passed the intelligence reform bill last year and authorized an increase of 10,000 Border Patrol agents over 5 years. It included provisions to add 8,000 detention beds and 800 additional interior investigators. Unfortunately, the budget before us only allocated enough to cover 210 agents, 143 investigators, and 1,920 beds for detention.
The Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently said:
We do not have enough agents; we don't have enough technology to give us the security we need.
Let me give you some examples of recent happenings.
In Detroit, Mahmoud Youssef Kourani was indicted in the Eastern District of Michigan on one count of conspiracy to provide material support to Hezbollah. Kourani was already in custody for entering the country illegally through Mexico and was involved in fundraising activities on behalf of Hezbollah.
The two groups of Arab males were discovered by patrol guards from Willcox, AZ. One field agent said:
These guys didn't speak Spanish, and they were speaking to each other in Arabic. It's ridiculous that we don't take this more seriously. We're told not to say a thing to the media.
This is a field agent for the Border Patrol.
Last July, in Burlington, VT, police raided an international syndicate that forced Asian women to work as sex slaves. The women told investigators they had been smuggled from Asia to Mexico, entering the United States through Arizona, Texas, and other States. They ended up in Vermont.
Take the example of the capture of terrorist suspect Jose Padilla. The Justice Department says Padilla and an accomplice planned to enter the United States through Mexico to blow up apartment buildings in major cities such as New York.
Or the case of suspected al-Qaida sleeper agent Mohammed Junaid Babar, who told investigators of a scheme to smuggle terrorists across the Mexican border. He is tied to a terror plot to carry out bombings and assassinations in London.
Further stories indicate there are real concerns about terrorists entering our country through the southern border.
Along the Mexican border there have been stories of suspicious items picked up by local residents, including Muslim prayer rugs and notebooks written in both Arabic and Spanish. These items came from OTMs and a subcategory called special interest aliens, who are illegals coming from terrorist-sponsoring countries.
Intelligence reports suggesting that 25 Chechen terrorism suspects have illegally entered the United States from Mexico have refocused attention on a porous border from which many believe the next major attack on Americans could come.
Patrol agents told one Arizona newspaper that 77 males ``of Middle Eastern descent'' were apprehended in June of last year in 2 separate incidents. All were trekking through the mountains and are believed to have been part of a larger group of illegal immigrants. Many were released pending immigration hearings.
Also last July, an Egyptian man United States authorities described as one of their most wanted smugglers of humans was arrested on charges of operating a ring that illegally brought people from Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries to the United States. The indictment says Abdallah and his associates would direct people seeking to reach the
United States to travel to one of several Latin American countries, and from there to Guatemala. They would then be transported to America through Mexico in return for payments of thousands of dollars in smuggling fees.
The amendment we are offering tonight will add $315 million to the President's request for the Border Patrol. This will provide for the training and equipping of 2,000 agents. This would be the full amount authorized and will have a dramatic impact on the security-related problems we have on the border.
In order to maintain a fiscally responsible bill, and not increase the top cap of discretionary spending, we are offsetting this increase with an equal reduction in the international affairs section of the budget because protecting our borders from foreign threats is an international affair.
Today, with my colleagues Senators Ensign, Domenici, Cornyn, McCain, Kyl, and Feinstein, I am calling on Congress to do more than add 210 Border Patrol agents that are in the underlying budget. We are asking for the full contingent authorized of 2,000. This is still not enough. And I hope we will be able to come back next year and get up to the full 2,000 again.
But the warning flag has gone up. We must heed the warnings we have been given. Every incident I mentioned is a call to the United States to make sure that our borders with Mexico are secure. We need more Border Patrol agents and more detention facilities to make our borders secure.
The people of our country deserve this security, and our amendment will take one step in the right direction. I hope my colleagues will work with me to pass this in the budget and then later in the Appropriations bill. We must do everything to heed the warning call we have gotten.
Mr. President, I yield the rest of our time to the Senator from Nevada, who has also worked very hard on this amendment. I appreciate very much his cosponsoring this amendment with me today.
Thanks for the link
And who has said it should?
Bingo! These types of irrational ideas are what most FReepers are opposed to, not to effective border control. I have yet to see anyone here support "open borders" or allowing illegals to come into the U.S. but it doesn't stop some from accusing others of just that because they oppose violent solutions.
""The groups "are completely in violation of American law itself and in violation of laws anywhere," Fox said.""
This is the thought that confuses and infuriates me when Fox was talking about the minuteman project. What laws are they breaking? If you have read the page, it is to be a peaceful reporting of ILLEGALS crossing. There is nothing unlawful about that. He should read our constitution and amendments before he starts spouting about them breaking the law. Ridiculous!
The only people I've seen use the words "open borders" are the ones calling anybody who doesn't agree with their agenda "open border lovers."
He is a man who will be remembered fondly by history.
Yep!
Good, now why were they not replaced by other alphabet soup pseudo-LEOs we don't need?
Why should anyone in the FedGov outside of the FBI, Border Patrol, and Secret Service need a gun? If it is that high an enforcement priority, they can take it to the FBI (or, better yet, the local sheriff) for armed support.
What is her lifetime ACU rating?
Please do not confuse the fools with the facts.
BTTT
The thing is, is that Bush just cut the funds to the border patrol. Is this just replacing already cut funds? and man power? or are we still on the losing end?
Her lifetime ACU rating is 91, but her 2003 and 2004 ratings were 75 and 84, respectively, not a good trend. She is sound on defense and basically OK on tax and economic issues. However, she is somewhat weak on social issues, being pro-abortion and favoring NEA funding.
Please feel free however to explain how a 90% + rating means she's no real conservative.
Her weakest area is the moral and cultural aspects of conservatism. This was most evident in her vote to affirm the fundamental soundness of the Roe v. Wade decision in 2003. Despite its overturn of centuries of opposition to abortion in both Anglo-American common law and the statutes of all 50 states before 1960, and the Supreme Court's detection of a nonexistent Constitutional "Right to Privacy" with regard to this type of infanticide, she recorded her decision in favor of Roe v. Wade.
All that said, Kay Hutchison would probably be a better governor than Rick Perry. She may do a better job of preserving the Republican franchise on restraint on state budgets, taxes, and agency overreach than Perry has. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, a person who supports your position 80% of the time should be considered an 80% friend, not a 20% enemy.
To what bill is she adding this amendment?
The real action will come when illegal aliens are barred from judicial review, held indefinitely until deportation, and deported within a week of their capture.
Then, of course, there should be a no excuse policy for felons hiring illegals and fines set to financially incapacitate them along with mandatory minimums of ten years' imprisonment.
The Budget Bill..
Thanks
Bump for later read
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