Sen. Ben Nelson
Posted on 03/04/2006 6:50:54 AM PST by Hat-Trick
Nelson wants to fence off Mexico
BY HENRY J. CORDES
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
There's a growing consensus in Washington that before Congress can address comprehensive immigration reform, it must first crack down at the nation's borders, U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson said Friday.
Sen. Ben Nelson
Nelson this week introduced a new border security bill, one that would go even further than the proposal he first outlined in September.
Among the provisions added since September is the construction of a $5 billion, two-layer reinforced fence that would stretch from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico along the 1,900-mile U.S.-Mexico border.
The latest bill also includes a requirement that all employers verify that their workers are in the country legally and adds 10,000 new detention beds to hold those found in violation of federal immigration laws.
"It's a border-security-first bill," Nelson, a Democrat, said at an Omaha press conference.
"If we don't do something about the border, the problem is going to get worse."
Nelson introduced his latest bill on the same day the Senate Judiciary Committee began work on an immigration reform proposal. Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, has asked for a bill to be ready for debate by the full Senate later this month.
Nelson said the problem with most immigration proposals introduced to date is that they get bogged down over what to do with the estimated 10 million people already in the United States illegally.
There is much disagreement over that, from calls to deport them to various proposals to create amnesty or guest worker programs.
"A huge bill with guest workers or amnesty is going nowhere," he said.
Nelson said it will be possible to bring more people together if the issue of border security is addressed first.
A Nelson spokesman said the senator's bill is the only one in the Senate that includes provisions for a fence, though there have been other fence proposals in the House.
Nelson's bill is co-sponsored by two Republicans, Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.
While the cost of the fence might be high, Nelson said, it's modest compared to the cost of dealing with illegal immigration.
He said he didn't think his proposal would hurt companies in Nebraska that have come to rely on labor from undocumented workers. Nelson said efforts to stop illegal immigration should be accompanied by steps to increase legal immigration.
Overall, he said, his proposal would "solve the border security problem where it starts - at the border."
Nelson's Nebraska colleague, Chuck Hagel, is among the senators who have introduced bills for comprehensive immigration reform.
Hagel has advocated legislation that would give legal status to undocumented immigrant workers under certain conditions, such as maintaining a work history in America for several years and passing security and criminal background checks.
Asked about Nelson's security-fence proposal, Hagel said he makes a distinction between immigration reform and border security.
"I'm generally not in favor of building walls," he said.
This story includes material from the Associated Press.
Hell, I'll volunteer for a month to help construct such a fence.
And I bet they're are enough retirees an others who would do the same thing.
Yeah that's why he went on worldwide television stating emphatically, "Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall". Words mean things, and President Reagan knew that.
Yeah that's why he went on worldwide television stating emphatically, "Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall".
I'm speechless at the incomprehension. How do you manage to turn on a computer?
And I bet they're are enough retirees an others who would do the same thing.
My knees aren't worth a crap, but I can still operate equipment. I'll up the ante by a month. Two months.
If there are ranch owners in N.M. and AZ who want to do it on their own, for their acreage, the offer is open to them.
I'd be cheaper and I'd be doing the job the Illegal Aliens dont want to do.
And apparently he understood what they meant a h@lluva lot better than you do.
You complain, in your tag line, about Hillary and her supposed stance on Illegal Immigration, But when you get right down to it, President Bush could do something about it now.
I voted for RR twice and GWB four times and would do so again given the options. So don't think you'll get anywhere by trying to impugn me and my politics.
You are wrong here. The Berlin wall did exactly what it was erected to do, stanch the flow of refugees across the border into West Berlin. Without it, East Germany would have literally become a deserted country. After the wall, the flow was reduced to a trickle of brave heroes.
If a border wall does its job for us as well as the Berlin wall did its job for the communists, it will be a triumph in the War on Terror.
Right-o. See No. 37 above.
The cost of the fence is peanuts compared to the many BILLIONS of dollars illegal aliens are costing us. This huge cost doesn't seem to bother our President and his cronies a bit. I guess they can afford it, but we can't.
Any politician who agrees with guestworker/amnesty needs to receive more FAKE PESOS for their campaign warchests.
ABOUT TIME SOMEBODY DID SOMETHING BESIDES TALK!!!
Good for Nelson. The first step in a sane immigration policy is border control.
The wall will be a good first step in doing that.
Lets start building the wall, *then* we can discuss the other aspects of immigration reform, while the wall is being built.
The people against the wall are *FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION*. They are going to hide behind all kinds of arguments, and try to confuse the issue by making it part of an overall immigration reform package.
We shouldn't let them do this. They are NOT trying to stop illegal immigration - they are trying stop the wall and continue the status quo. They *WANT* massive immigration from Mexico.
And stalinist communism still failed. What's your point?
How lame.
You can't come up with any substantial reasons for not building a Mexican Border wall, so you compare it to the Berlin Wall.
Other than both being Walls - they are not comparable and irrelevant to the discussion.
Using your "logic", we shouldn't have prisons because the Nazi's built prisons and we shouldn't have the US border patrol because Stalin had border guards.
I think his point is that your view has about as much relevance as JFK standing by the wall in Berlin and calling himself a pastry roll...."Ich Bin Ein Berliner"..had.
Yeah real lame.
I point out recent history that the greatest American President of the 20th century was against "walls".
And what do you come back with? A Jeff Spicoli(sean penn) actor colloquialism.
I would vote for him in a heartbeat over McCain. Probably over Rudy or Condi as well.
Uh, ben nelson votes for harry reid to be Senate Majority Leader.
Oh well, research(and common sense) means nothing to some on FR.
So you are going to stick with the idea that this requires "research". We should all be thankful that you are not engaged with anything having to do with rockets. There wouldn't be enough bottles.
You take the positions you do, and then try to claim common sense. There's a German phrase in this part of Texas. "Dumb Geboren, Und Nichts ZuGelearnt", my mother used it often to describe people with little common sense.
To use the Words of RR to try and excuse criminal acts is the most assinine thing on your part.
It's nice -- and overdue -- that a Nebraska senator is finally making himself useful. I don't know what's up with Hagel, what a disappoint and a shame. I have many relatives in Nebraska and I know what people there are like. I'm so surprised at the nonsense they've been putting up with. The "demographics" must have changed over the past decade or two...
Oh, and I like the co-sponsors on Nelson's bill a LOT.
there was once a large and mighty nation.
it ceased to expand, and settled down within static borders.
this nation's urban elite became indolent, soft, interested in their personal wealth and privileges, their decadent private amusements, their trivial philosophies... disinterested in their duties to their nation.
this nation's urban mudsill became a subsidized class, appeased with distractions and welfare, used in mob politics.
this nation's yeomanry did what they could, groaning under the yoke of ever more oppressive taxation and legal policies imposed by the urban elite.
savage internal politics ruined its military.
border security went swirling.
alien tribes began invading at will.
the nation's yeomenry became displaced by unassimilated aliens while the elites shrugged and counted their tax base and smiled at their cheap labor.
eventually, this nation's lands came unglued from the national culture, economy, political system, ethos.
eventually, even the elites were displaced by the invading aliens as the urban centers fell into ruin.
fully half of this once mighty nation fell into 500 years of decay, darkness, and death.
this nation was Rome.
we are on a highly analogous path.
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