HUTCHISON Amendment (#218) would fund 2,000 border agents.

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

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)

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.

We do not have enough agents; we don't have enough technology to give us the security we need.

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.

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. Did I see correctly that you said that 20% of the BP is stationed in Iraq? I've seen where 1,000 agents total, about 10%, are stationed overseas, but not a figure as high as 20% for Iraq alone. Do you have a source?

But it is pretty easy to roboticaly jump all over someone who *dares* to *question* President Bush's policies, when you don't really have anything or anyone to lose isn't it?

Uh all of us have somebody who is dear to us to lose everyday, from what could be a mechanically rampant bus, to a military casualty, to a meteor or to an accident going through a window.

My point is to appreciate those loved ones every day and not try to make crass political points for your pet agenda.

“When you’re up to your eyeballs in alligators, it’s hard to remember that you came to drain the swamp.”
" And once the swamp is drained, the alligators will go away. "

Tom McClintock

>"Uh all of us have somebody who is dear to us to lose everyday, from what could be a mechanically rampant bus, to a military casualty, to a meteor or to an accident going through a window.

My point is to appreciate those loved ones every day and not try to make crass political points for your pet agenda."<

-Not surprisingly, there is very little *point* in your "point".

The subject of this thread is about strengthening our border patrol in order to protect our citizens from gang bangers, drug runners, and possible terrorists who would attempt to enter our country and do us harm...

It's not about transportation safety or meteorological events.

>"I'm still waiting for a response OR apology for this one:"<

Yes, I already saw that one, and I have never seen you make a statement like that.

Take care, and have a good weekend.

You'll have to excuse me, but I spent enough time during the Clinton administration watching people parse words. I've had it up to here with the Lanny Davises, the Ann Lewises, the Barney Franks et all. When someone claims that 70% of the people on this forum hold certain views, in the face of a either or question that leaves no room for the parsers, I'm going to have my say about it.

You can try to translate English into English for the rest of us all you like, but it's not going to mitigate the under 11% that prefered a guest worker program vs an 85% that prefered our laws be enforced.

That poll was 85 to 11% against a guest worker program. Just how lopsided does it have to be for people like you and the nameless to comprehend the truth of it?

Thanks for the comments, but you and I stridently disagree reagarding the implications of the only poll that asked folks dead blank what they prefered, either or.

Absolutely. Too bad more Americans are not passionate about saving America.

I think most Americans are passionate about saving America. The problem is our President is not. He runs the show.

The problem is our President is not. He runs the show.
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This whole situation has me totally perplexed. While I know we don't know all the behind-the-scenes details, what we DO SEE IS NOT GOOD. AT ALL.

Mexico pushes for continental integration

This came from another article posted by Happy2BMe. People don't want to believe this and are living in denial, or protecting George Bush. Either way it spells doom for the United States. Bush is giving Fox everything he wants, and more. Fox wants the USA to buy him out of poverty by sending millions upon millions of his citizens to America to be cared for. Bush seems more than willing to destroy America in order to give Fox a good night's sleep.
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But WHY? Why is Bush doing this to this country???
I still cannot rationally reason this out. It goes against every general principle he SAID he stood for, as well as the oath he took as President.

But WHY? Why is Bush doing this to this country???

I think we are living in a time when America will no longer be known as a sovereign nation, but will become one union with Canada, Mexico and South America. Conservatives on FR scream to hear that but honestly, when Fox himself lets the cat out of the bag - as he has done many times in the past, many supporters of Bush just ignore it. They are living in denial because they have put so much hope and love into George Bush's presidency, they can't allow themselves to believe the truth about his actions and motives on open borders.

Bush and his family are very much into bringing America into one great political union. And in my opinion, he is being true to his beliefs.

Bush and his family are very much into bringing America into one great political union. And in my opinion, he is being true to his beliefs.
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And if this is the reality of it, which seems like the only reasonable explanation, THEN WHY CAN'T HE DO IT OPENLY, HONESTLY, AND WITHOUT UNDERMINING OUR CONSTITUTION, OUR LAWS, AND OUR TRUST ??? There is alot of bad stuff in this situation. HE DOES OWN THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AN EXPLANATION, and soon.

The other bad component in this, is that again if this is the case, then BEING A DEMOCRACY, WITH A REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT, such actions are not taken as if this country is being run by a single person with a single agenda --- there is just too much wrong with this whole picture.

Yeah, you're right. Some in Congress oppose open borders and its consequences, but it's doubtful they will make much head way in keeping the country sovereign. Once the illegals begin to vote, God help us. And I think that thought remains uppermost in the minds of our present politicians. (Otherwise known as the FEAR of being ousted, by not giving illegal what they want.)

We've already seen what our corrupt Judicial system has brought on us. Can you imagine a Congress as corrupt as the Judges?

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