Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005
BORDER PROTECTION, ANTITERRORISM, AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CONTROL ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - December 15, 2005)
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Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Chairman, will the gentlewoman yield?
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. I yield to the gentlewoman from California.
Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Chairman, I would just like to rise in support of this very intelligent amendment. You know, most people do not realize that we actually have fewer beds, detention space in America today than we did on September 11. We have 700 fewer beds today than we did on September 11, 2001.
I have a bill that has not been scheduled for action that relates to unaccompanied minor children, and I would like to just mention the plight of one young boy, Malik Jarno, who came to the United States in his Boy Scout uniform to go to a Boy Scout jamboree. He is slightly retarded and he ended up, a long story I will not bore you with, being arrested. He did not commit any crime and was put in a jail, a 16-year-old boy in his Boy Scout uniform, put in a jail with adults. It is absolutely wrong to treat children in that manner.
The gentlewoman's amendment would make sure that children are treated appropriately while their matters are being reviewed. It does not say what the outcome has got to be, but just that we do not put children in prison with adults. Civilized nations do not do that. And I commend the gentlewoman for her amendment. It would also increase the ability to hold those who are not currently able to be held since, for reasons we cannot understand, the Bush administration has 700 fewer beds today than we did on September 11, 2001.
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Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. McCAUL of Texas. I yield to the gentlewoman from California.
Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Chairman, I know the gentleman is a decent person, and I respect that. But I do not know if he is aware of the government's dismal record of arresting the 16-year-old in his Boy Scout uniform having attended the International Boy Scout Jamboree and then putting him in jail with adult prisoners. The record is not a pretty one, and I just note that the Secretary retains full power to lock up anyone he wants to if they are a criminal, but we have a very serious problem.
Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, I am sure we can point to extreme examples, but the fact of the matter is that the statute does already provide and gives the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security discretion to release juveniles, aliens with medical conditions and aliens who are medically certified as pregnant. I think this is already addressed by the law. And, therefore, this well-intentioned amendment, I believe, is unnecessary.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition, although I do not oppose the amendment.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. Without objection, the gentlewoman from California will control the time in opposition.
There was no objection.
Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, I agree that we should get this information, and, actually, I believe that, under current law, the department is required to give us this information. In fact, there is an Office of Immigration Statistics buried in the bureaucracy of this department that is supposed to provide information to us on a variety of subjects.
I would just note that this is an agency that not only cannot administer, it is an agency that cannot count. We have had, for example, and it is a different issue, certainly, than terrorism, but I think several years in the last half decade where they have failed to count the number of visas when there were limits on employment visas, and then they say a big oops; they have given too many. And sometimes they even try to sneak around and deduct the overassessment from the next year's. They cannot count because they do not have any technology.
I think it would be quite a dandy idea to find out not only who has been apprehended from countries other than those who are immediately adjacent to us but a whole variety of other information, statistical information, about these individuals.
Again, I appreciate that the author is in good faith trying to make this happen. I will make him a side bet, maybe lunch, that we will never get this information any more than we get the information on the H-1B program that usually is due every year and usually we get it somewhere between 1, 2 and even 3 years late and wrong. I would like to get the information, but none of this is really going to happen until the inept administration of this function is improved. And I, regrettably, do not see that with the new Brownie coming on.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, I wonder if I could ask the chairman of the committee a question: I understand from the Democrats on the Rules Committee that we have not yet received the manager's amendment that has been discussed so frequently on the floor today to the underlying bill. We have not seen anything. Do you have any idea when Members will see this manager's amendment that has been discussed today?
Mr. KING of New York. Mr. Chairman, will the gentlewoman yield?
Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. I yield to the gentleman from New York.
Mr. KING of New York. No, I cannot enlighten the gentlewoman at all. As soon I find out, you will be the first to know.
Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, I appreciate that.
Before recognizing my colleague, I just wanted to mention that on Mr. Castle's amendment there are several other issues that I think we need to consider, assuming they are going to pay any attention to this at all, which I have questions about. We do have expedited removal provisions, and the data-keeping is not very good there.
I would note also that part of our problem is that not only do we have inadequate enforcement at the border; we are just not enforcing the laws at the border, but we do not have the personnel to actually adjudicate matters once we have apprehended people.
Now, the expedited removal at the border, it is controversial among some, but I think not at points of entry. Judgments can be made. There are problems that the General Accounting Office has told us relative to asylum, the application asylum laws, that do need to be addressed. But it is not at all clear that these numbers are going to be folded into this, and I think we ought to be aware of that.
Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).
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Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition although I do not oppose the amendment.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. Without objection, the gentlewoman will control 5 minutes.
There was no objection.
Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, I support this amendment. The amendment calls on the Mexican Government to work closely with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to take immediate action to prevent the occurrence of rape along the U.S.-Mexican border.
Rape is a horrendous crime. Every 2 1/2 minutes somewhere in the United States someone is sexually assaulted, and only 36 percent of the rapes are reported to law enforcement in the United States. It is safe to assume that the rate of reporting is considerably less along the border.
The women who are crossing our border are extremely vulnerable, and they are unlikely to tell law enforcement officials that they were raped while trying to cross the border without their papers. The smugglers know that these women are vulnerable, and they take advantage of them. I think in many ways this amendment makes clear what many have been talking about today, and that is the need to gain control of the situation at the border.
I have talked today a lot about how dysfunctional the administration of our laws has been. We do not have enough Border Patrol agents; they are not properly equipped; we do not have enough prosecutors; we do not have enough judicial personnel; we are citing and releasing individuals and letting them go. We have a chaotic situation at the border, and we need to create an orderly situation at our borders. We need to take control of it. It is not occurring right now.
Part of that, and again this has been discussed, is to regularize the ability of individuals who want to come and be part of the American Dream so that they do not have to be with smugglers, vulnerable victims of crime, victims of rape; that there is some orderly manner for individuals to move back and forth across the border, to do the jobs that we know are not going to get done without them.
Earlier today, not on the record, someone said, Well, you know, if this bill passes, that is the end of salads in America. I think we need to contemplate the role that immigrant labor plays in the area of agriculture, fast food, tourism, the hotel industry, the tourist industry and the like. I think it is a mistake that the underlying bill does not deal with that issue.
I do agree, however, that the gentlewoman's amendment really calling on our two governments to coordinate, to fight this horrendous crime of rape is well intentioned, it is something I can support; and I hope it does some good.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
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