Immigration Reform Caucus' Background and AgendaTANCREDO, CONGRESSIONAL IMMIGRATION REFORM CAUCUS UNVEIL MAJOR U.S. BORDER PROTECTION INITIATIVE
Calls on President to Place Troops on U.S. Border
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo (R-CO), Chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, and several Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus Members will call on the President to immediately deploy troops along the U.S. border, as well as unveil a major border protection initiative during a press conference on Capitol Hill next Tuesday, June 18th at 1:00PM.
WHO: U.S. Representatives Tom Tancredo (R-CO),
Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-MN),
Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA),
Rep. Marge Roukema (R-NJ),
Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ),
Rep. Nathan Deal (I-GA)
and other Members of the Congressional Immigration Reform CaucusSPECIAL GUEST: Bill King, Chief Patrol Agent, U.S. Border Patrol (Ret.)
WHAT: Press Conference to unveil border protection initiative; call on President to deploy troops along the U.S. border
WHEN: Tuesday, June 18th, 2002 at 1:00PM EDT
WHERE: House Triangle
According to a recent study conducted by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), more than 700,000 illegal immigrants enter the U.S. per year – resulting in 1,918 per day, 80 per hour and more than 1 per minute. In other words, since the September 11th attack, approximately 481,418 people have entered the U.S. illegally.
With the events of September 11th, in the second session of the 107th Congress, the caucus will no doubt continue to establish the link between open borders, unregulated immigration and the potential for terrorism. In addition, the caucus will push legislative proposals which will help secure America’s borders, including the creation of a comprehensive visa tracking system such as H.R. 3525, and meaningful reform of the INS. Though many members of the caucus continue to support a true guestworker program, most will continue to vehemently oppose any program in the 107th Congress that results in amnesty for illegal immigrants.
The Immigration Reform Caucus was established to review current immigration policy, propose new immigration policies and provide a forum in Congress for addressing the positive and negative consequences of our immigration policies.
During the 107th Congress, the Caucus hopes to focus on three primary areas, illegal immigration, legal immigration and voter reform.
And while I support virtually everything Tancredo does, I do have one question for the BP/INS/Customs employees here: Is BORTAC underutilized? Are they too far from the fun in So. AZ to respond quickly?
Some people are always trying to condemn having the military on the border, but it seems like we already have a capable paramilitary unit. So, does it make more sense to expand BORTAC and make them more pervasive along the border?
My own interaction with the Customs Air Unit in Tucson 20 years ago made me aware that they had some fairly decent assets, but they aren't that big of an operation, and I wonder how quickly they can respond to an emerging situation. Comments?