Radio Address by the President to the Nation, 10-22-05

WhiteHouse.gov ^ | 10-22-05 | George W. Bush

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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 22, 2005

President's Radio Address

     Audio
     In Focus: Homeland Security
     

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This week I signed into law a bill that supports our ongoing efforts to defend our homeland.

To defend this country, we have to enforce our borders. When our borders are not secure, terrorists, drug dealers, and criminals find it easier to sneak into America. My administration has a clear strategy for dealing with this problem: We want to stop people from crossing into America illegally, and to quickly return the illegal immigrants we catch back to their home countries.

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For the past four years, we've been implementing this strategy. To stop illegal immigrants from coming across our borders, we've added manpower, upgraded our technology, and taken the final steps necessary to complete a 14-mile barrier running along the San Diego border with Mexico. To enforce our immigration laws within our borders, we've hired more immigration agents, gone after criminal gangs, and targeted smugglers and coyotes who traffic in human beings. We are getting results: Since 2001, we have removed more than 4.8 million illegal immigrants from the United States, including more than 300,000 with criminal records.

Our border patrol and immigration agents are doing a fine job, but we still have a problem. Too many illegal immigrants are coming in, and we're capturing many more non-Mexican illegal immigrants than we can send home. And one of the biggest reasons we cannot send them back is that we lack space in our detention facilities to hold them until they are removed. When there's no bed available, non-Mexicans who are caught entering our country illegally are given a slip that tells them to come back for a court appearance. Most never show up. And then they disappear back into the shadows of our communities. This is called "catch-and-release," and it is unacceptable.

The bill I signed includes $7.5 billion that will help us address the problem of illegal immigration in two important ways. First, it provides more than $2.3 billion for the Border Patrol so we can keep more illegal immigrants from getting into the country in the first place. These funds will help us hire a thousand new border patrol agents, improve our technology and intelligence, expand and improve Border Patrol stations, and install and improve fencing, lighting, vehicle barriers, and roads along our border areas. I appreciate the help Congress has given us for our common goal of creating more secure borders.

Second, this bill also provides $3.7 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement so we can find and return the illegal immigrants who are entering our country. With these funds, we can expand the holding capacity of our detention facilities by 10 percent. This will allow us to hold more non-Mexican illegal immigrants while we process them through a program we call "expedited removal." This will make the process faster and more efficient. Putting more non-Mexican illegal immigrants through expedited removal is crucial to sending back people who have come here illegally. As Secretary Chertoff told the Senate this week, our goal is to return every single illegal entrant, with no exceptions. And this bill puts us on the path to do that.

For Mexicans who cross into America illegally, we have a different plan, but the same goal. Now, most of the 900,000 illegal immigrants from Mexico who are caught each year are immediately escorted back across the border. The problem is that these illegal immigrants are able to connect with another smuggler or coyote and come right back in. So one part of the solution is a program called "interior repatriation" where we fly or bus these illegal immigrants all the way back to their hometowns in the interior of Mexico. By returning illegal Mexican immigrants to their homes, far away from desert crossings, we're saving lives and making it more difficult for them to turn right around and cross back into America.

As we improve and expand our efforts to secure our borders, we must also recognize that enforcement cannot work unless it's part of a comprehensive immigration reform that includes a temporary worker program. If an employer has a job that no American is willing to take, we need to find a way to fill that demand by matching willing employers with willing workers from foreign countries on a temporary and legal basis. I'll work with members of Congress to create a program that will provide for our economy's labor needs without harming American workers, and without granting amnesty, and that will relieve pressure on our borders.

A critical part of any temporary worker program is ensuring that our immigration laws are enforced at work sites. America is a country of laws; we must not allow dishonest employers to flout those laws. So we've doubled the resources for work site enforcement since 2004.

We have much more work ahead of us. But the Homeland Security bill I signed this week provides vital support for our efforts to deal with the problem of illegal immigration, and make all Americans safer and more secure.

Thank you for listening.

END

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[Salvation]

Does anyone know who keeps an immigration, border patrol ping list?

[Gondring]

Is this a spoof or just more token gestures? ;-)

[Salvation]

I haven't kept track of this issue, but this was what his radio address was today.

Click on the links.

[radar101]

WASHINGTON - Caught between business supporters who need foreign workers and conservatives clamoring for a clampdown on illegal immigration, President Bush tried on Saturday to give his temporary guest worker plan a nudge by promising strong enforcement......................................................................................................... That is what we have had for 20 years: Promises to US Citizens who have to pay for the costs of these aliens. Threats against the aliens. Any comment about the employers of illegals? FOUR prosecuted last year.

[beyond the sea]

Let Condi speak for you, George.

[Salvation]

I should have said, check the WhiteHouse.gov link:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/10/20051022.html

[Mr. Keys]

When our govt. really cares about our borders, start watching for flocks of flying pigs.

[DancesWithBolsheviks]

How did scrappleface get ahold of a .gov url??

[MNJohnnie]

Is this a spoof or just more token gestures? ;-)

Maybe the knee jerk Bush critics might actually find out some facts at least ONE time? Just ONE time instead of the usual mindless knee jerk rants?

[Mr. Keys]

Really, any talk about border security from our govt. is a joke.

[Paladin2]

Let's see.......the border with Mexico is said to be 1951 miles.......We've built 14 miles of fence this year.....So that's only roughly 139 more years until it's done.

Sounds like a plan to me.

[dsutah]

Well said! I know that a lot of Freepers are worried, or maybe a bit annoyed with the Pres. about this. But mostly they support him otherwise; and are willing to at least listen to what he says/check the facts about what's been done, and hold their fire! But there are the one bunch of them that will not listen, or read what is done already by the Pres. and Congress, and will fill up these threads with ugly insults and ridicule!

From what I've read, there have been attempts made by Pres., Congress, and by state authorities to control the borders. Maybe they could do more, I guess. But to say that nothing is done, they don't care(and some don't!), he wants open borders/overall, etc.. is nonsense, and not true!

[Paladin2]

fence costs

[DumpsterDiver]

Now, most of the 900,000 illegal immigrants from Mexico who are caught each year are immediately escorted back across the border.

Most of the illegal aliens from Mexico aren't caught and it is rare to see any illegal alien from Mexico get deported.

And, here it comes...

As we improve and expand our efforts to secure our borders, we must also recognize that enforcement cannot work unless it's part of a comprehensive immigration reform that includes a temporary worker program. If an employer has a job that no American is willing to take, we need to find a way to fill that demand by matching willing employers with willing workers from foreign countries on a temporary and legal basis.

[dsutah]

I'm afraid I left out something in last sentance. This was "open borders/overall amnesty". Er, excuse me!(red-faced now)

[DumpsterDiver]

Does anyone know who keeps an immigration, border patrol ping list?

Both gubamyster and HiJinx do, so I pinged them.

[HiJinx]

and will fill up these threads with ugly insults and ridicule!

That kind of thing hasn't happened in awhile. Yes, there are those of us who are not pleased with the Administration's lack of apparent response to this issue. There are even those of us who criticize President Bush for appearing to be a buddy of President Fox and a One World Order kind of guy.

But we also have the integrity to acknowledge and praise our President when he does the right thing, as this legislation and this radio address appear to be.

[janetgreen]

As Secretary Chertoff told the Senate this week, our goal is to return every single illegal entrant, with no exceptions. And this bill puts us on the path to do that. For Mexicans who cross into America illegally, we have a different plan, but the same goal.

Illegal alien Mexicans - the protected class. The "different plan", of course is to let them stay, all 15? million of them, and there won't be a thing to stop the next 15 million from coming in after amnesty is granted.

What happened to the promise several years back that "there will be no more amnesties" for Mexicans?