Free Republic

The second session of the 109th Congress is poised to renew debate on controlling the borders and bringing an end to illegal immigration. As most of you already know, the House passed a bill in mid December that purports to get tough on illegal immigration without adding any guest worker or amnesty provisions. This much is satisfying, but the House bill could and should have been stronger. Only the TRUE Enforcement and Border Control Act, H.R. 4313, aims directly at the root incentives that drive illegal immigration and mirrors what the public is demanding. Read FAIR's exclusive analysis of the...

House Republicans are poised this week to pass one of the toughest border security proposals in more than a decade, cracking down on illegal immigrants and their employers and rejecting President Bush's call for a comprehensive bill that would let millions of undocumented immigrants work legally in the United States. The measure would, for the first time, make it a federal crime to live in the United States illegally, transforming millions of immigrants in this country into felons ineligible for converting to any legal status in the United States. Currently, living in this country without a visa, work permit, green...

While I appreciate the editors of The Roanoke Times giving some attention to the TRUE Enforcement and Border Security Act, H.R. 4313, on the editorial page ("Immigration absurdity survives the election," Nov. 15), I only wish the whole bill had been addressed. The bill I introduced along with California Congressman Duncan Hunter does provide for construction of a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border. However, the fence is only a small part of the bill's plan to control mass illegal immigration. If your editors had focused on the whole bill, they would have discovered that we, too, believe that a fence...

House Republicans formally introduced two border security and immigration enforcement bills this week, both intended to fix what critics call a broken system. Supporters of H.R. 4313 (the True Enforcement and Border Security Act of 2005) said it will "separate those in Congress who pay lip service to controlling our borders and protecting homeland security, and those who are prepared to address this national crisis in a meaningful way." House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and Rep. Virgil Goode (R-Va.) sponsored the "comprehensive" bill, which was formally introduced on Tuesday. The legislation would: -- Create a security fence...