For months we’ve been talking about the need to strengthen border security and interior enforcement policy in America. Today, the Senate acted.
With hard work and due diligence, we took a bill that was dangerously fraught with amnesty provisions and replaced it with a bill that focuses on the principle of prevention. It calls for drastic measures that will begin to transform our borders from porous to PROTECTED. Most notable among them:
Construction of 370 miles of triple-layered fencing and 500 miles of vehicle barriers
Addition of 15,000 new Border Security agents
Immediate deployment of National Guard to the border Addition of 20,000 detention beds so we can end “catch and release” once and for all
Interior enforcement is essential to any meaningful immigration reform. So, this bill provides for tamper proof, biometric identification cards that will enable employers to hire only legal workers. And this bill authorizes strict penalties for those employers who willingly defy our immigration laws. Other provisions strengthening our immigration laws beyond the border include:
Prohibiting illegal aliens with a felony or a history of resisting deportation from ever obtaining legal residency or American citizenship
Preventing fraud by making illegal immigrants provide verifiable documentary evidence in their application for legal residency.
Declaring English to be the national language of the United States.
This bill, though not perfect, marks progress. It replaces rhetoric with real enforcement and sends a very clear message that there is a right way and a wrong way to enter this country.
The bill now heads to conference where details will be negotiated with the House of Representatives. I expect a lively and productive debate.
Bottom line, we’ve produced a significant bill with strict enforcement provisions … provisions that will only get stricter as we negotiate final details with our colleagues in the House.
More to follow in the days ahead …
And this man still harbors the illusion that he's got a chance in hell of getting the Republican nomination. The only positive is that he's saving us the trouble of voting him out of the Senate by not running for re-election. I think we should encourage McCain, Hagel, Lugar and whomever else decides to try and dupe the Republicans into giving them the nod for 2008 should show the same level of commitment and resign when they announce their candidacy.
Frist is describing a completely different bill from what was passed. this is ironic:
"It replaces rhetoric with real enforcement and sends a very clear message that there is a right way and a wrong way to enter this country."
This is untrue in so many ways .... just 2 examples of how enforcement is gutted:
http://freedomstruth.blogspot.com/2006/05/sham-nesty-bill-now-stymies-employer.html
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Immigration/wm1083.cfm
57% of the border will remain open to foot traffic.
I think we need to ask that all illegals signed up to vote by socialists/communists/democrats from 2005 through November 2008 be investigated for document fraud and that those who signed them up be investigated for perpetrating voter fraud. We should not accept the results of any further election without that requirement.