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

Thomas ^ | 3-17-05 | Senator HUTCHISON

[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.

[Mo1]

The fact is that they went in the first place while an invasion was occurring on their own territory (at the direction of the president.)

Hmmm ... did they go because they are in the reserves/military or because they are a border agent??

I'm guessing it was the reserves/military

And I'm guessing you have a problem with the facts

[Happy2BMe]

You are going to have to realize I am not the only one having a problem with all of these facts . .

(FR Open Border Opinion Poll captured on 13 Feb, 2005 at 10:00 PM EST)

Free Republic Opinion Poll: Please indicate whether or not you support or oppose open borders and illegal immigration.

Composite Opinion
I OPPOSE open borders and illegal immigration.	94.4%		4,020
I SUPPORT open borders and illegal immigration.	2.9%		125
Undecided/Pass.	2.7%		115
	100.0%		4,260
Member Opinion
I OPPOSE open borders and illegal immigration.	94.3%		2,954
Undecided/Pass.	3.4%		105
I SUPPORT open borders and illegal immigration.	2.3%		73
	100.0%		3,132
Non-Member Opinion
I OPPOSE open borders and illegal immigration.	94.5%		1,066
I SUPPORT open borders and illegal immigration.	4.6%		52
Undecided/Pass.	0.9%		10
	100.0%		1,128

[Dane]

I oppose illegal immigration also.

In another FR poll 59%, IIRC, supported some kind of guest worker program.

[Happy2BMe]

Good morning, Dane.

[Dane]

Also your reply #42 doesn't answer MO1's reply #41, IMO.

[Mo1]

You are going to have to realize I am not the only one having a problem with all of these facts . .

Oh please .. that poll proves nothing about what I wrote in my post to you

I voted on that poll also and I voted for the "I OPPOSE open borders and illegal immigration" also

Majority are not for open borders

But we sure as heck would like if many didn't twist the facts

President Bush did not send Border Patrol Agents to Iraq

He sent the Military

Translation: .. If they had not signed up for the reserves .. they then would not have been sent to Iraq

[Happy2BMe]

Translate away guys - I'll be back to read the tea leaves later.

[Howlin]

At least be HONEST with your polls:

Member Opinion
I would approve of a guest worker program if it requires illegals to go home first and apply for entry	27.0%		937
I would not approve of a guest worker program of any kind	20.4%		710
I would approve of a guest worker plan similar to Tancredo's	15.3%		530
I approve of the president's guest worker plan as is or with minor changes	8.8%		304
I might approve of a compromise guest worker program with some of Tancredo's ideas incorporated	8.6%		298
I don't like the wording of this poll and decline to participate	7.7%		266
Immigration from Mexico should not be allowed under any circumstances	7.5%		262
Undecided, other, pass	4.8%		167
	100.1%		3,474
Almost SEVENTY PERCENT of the MEMBERS of this forum approve of SOME KIND of worker's program.

[Mo1]

Translate away guys - I'll be back to read the tea leaves later

Well gee .. by your standards .. I suppose President Bush is for burning down buildings also

Because there are many Fire Fighters that have been sent to Iraq .. when they should be home protecting us from fires

Right???

[Howlin]

Majority are not for open borders

For some reason they will not acknowledge or refer to the poll that shows that almost 70 percent of the people on this forum WANT some kind of worker's program.

IMO, they NEED the issue to JUST be open/closed borders to make their point.

[Mo1]

IMO, they NEED the issue to JUST be open/closed borders to make their point.

I know

I'm more for finding a solution to the problem

[MeekOneGOP]

Maybe Hilary "movin' to the Center" clintoon can
move down here and be her political advisor !

Yikes! The thought of that. :^O

[deport]

Care to guess who make this statement?

In dedicating this magnificent sculpture, may we dedicate ourselves to hastening the day when all God's children live in a world without walls. That would be the greatest empire of all.

And now, let me speak directly to the young people and the students here. I wonder yet if you've appreciated how unusual--terribly unusual--this country of ours is?

I received a letter just before I left office from a man. I don't know why he chose to write it, but I'm glad he did. He wrote that you can go to live in France, but you can't become a Frenchman. You can go to live in Germany or Italy, but you can't become a German, an Italian. He went through Turkey, Greece, Japan and other countries. but he said anyone, from any corner of the world, can come to live in the United States and become an American.

Some may call is mysticism if they will, but I cannot help but feel that there was some divine plan that placed this continent here between the two great oceans to be found by people from any corner of the earth -- people who had an extra ounce of desire for freedom and some extra courage to rise up and lead their families, their relatives, their friends, their nations and come here to eventually make this country.

The truth of the matter is, if we take this crowd and if we could go through and ask the heritage, the background of every family represented here, we would probably come up with the names of every country on earth, every corner of the world, and every race. Here, is the one spot on earth where we have the brotherhood of man. And maybe as we continue with this proudly, this brotherhood of man made up from people representative of every corner of the earth, maybe one day boundaries all over the earth will disappear as people cross boundaries and find out that, yes, there is a brotherhood of man in every corner.

Thank you all and God Bless you all.

Click

[COEXERJ145]

IMO, they NEED the issue to JUST be open/closed borders to make their point.

Borders and immigration isn't the real issue. It is just a means to an end for some.

[One_American]

From an AP story yesterday we have these little gems from our beloved Vicente;

"We are convinced that walls don't work. They should be torn down," Fox said. He called the walls "discriminatory; they attack liberty. So no country that is proud of itself should build walls. Nobody can isolate himself these days."

Oh really? Than you will be opening your southern border with Guatemala and Belize?

Fox said he would discuss ways to create a legal, orderly, dignified migration system with President Bush during the meeting next week in Texas.

Fox insisted Mexico would not meddle in U.S. affairs by lobbying for any legislation, but was ready to offer information if asked.

Wow, what a generous guy!

He said Mexicans "totally reject" what he called vigilante "migrant hunter" groups formed in Arizona to help stem the illegal crossings there, which have risen partly because of the construction of walls elsewhere. The groups "are completely in violation of American law itself and in violation of laws anywhere," Fox said.

You just have to laugh at a statement like this. The groups are formed to help stem the ILLEGAL crossings there! Apparently it is just fine for millions of Mexican citizens to break our laws as long as it is convenient to them but us Gringos better not break any laws.

He said Mexico "will be very alert to react legally against any lawbreaking" by those groups, either under U.S. or international law.

He ceratinly isn't very alert to the corruption, crime and lawbreaking in his own backyard.

[HiJinx]

Time to call your Senator's local staff or DC office and let 'em know we need this funding.

[HiJinx]

I'm more for finding a solution to the problem

As the poll Howlin posted earlier points out, most of us believe, right or wrong, that we need guest labor. We definitely want a solution to the problem - but what problem? Closed hospitals? Criminal gangs? A dearth of jobs for our teens and college students? Cheap lettuce? What is the problem?

In the meantime, this country needs to gain control of it's borders. I don't mean we need to close them, we certainly should keep all of the Ports of Entry open. But we must stop the flood of illegals crossing in between the POEs. They are right now uninvited and unwanted guests in this country. Many are violent felons and we have no idea who many of them are or where they've settled.

Think of the analogy of the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dike. You absolutely cannot drain the flooded hinterlands before first sealing off the dike.

The rational FReepers on my list are not, as you suggest, solely concerned about open/closed borders. But I hope you can see the wisdom of the argument that you cannot have a solution to illegal immigration that either ignores the border problem, or subjugates it to a feel-good jobs program.

[OXENinFLA]

Fox Says Walls Along Border Must Be Razed

[Mo1]

The rational FReepers on my list are not, as you suggest, solely concerned about open/closed borders. But I hope you can see the wisdom of the argument that you cannot have a solution to illegal immigration that either ignores the border problem, or subjugates it to a feel-good jobs program.

I don't believe all Freepers are irrational with regard to the border issue

I believe many have had good discussions and possible solutions to the border and illegal problem our country faces

But you have to admit there are a number that are not rational in their posts

Dragging mexicans out of their homes and putting them in camps is irrational

Putting land mines on the border is irrational

Shooting any mexicans coming across the border is irrational

And twisting the facts is irrational

[One_American]

Yes, I saw that. Unbelievable! I'll say one thing for Vicente, he sure has stones to keep barking out these ridiculous statements. It just amazes me how absolutely none of this applies to Mexico, only to the USA.</p>