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Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005

Date: Dec. 15, 2005
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Immigration


BORDER PROTECTION, ANTITERRORISM, AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CONTROL ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - December 15, 2005)

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Ms. LINDA T. SÁNCHEZ of California. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Michigan for yielding me time.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 4437. Americans are right to demand better border security and better enforcement of our immigration laws, but this bill is just a false sense of security. It does not secure our borders, it leaves our ports of entry exposed, and does nothing to reform our broken immigration system. What is needed is enforcement of laws that work, and we cannot have this without comprehensive immigration reform. Even President Bush agrees on this.

We should not be debating a bill thrown together at the 11th hour before we adjourn for recess, a bill that basically opens the door for witch hunts of anyone who looks foreign and a bill that erodes basic civil liberties and human rights for migrants, legal immigrants, and even citizens.

In looking at the lack of merit in this bill, we need to ask ourselves what kind of America do we want to live in. Do we want an America where we have mass deportations? Do we want an America where police officers can randomly ask foreign-looking Americans to produce identification to prove their legal status? Do we want an America where people can be detained for life when their home country is unwilling to take them back? Do we want an America where American citizens will have to carry national identification cards to travel, work, or just walk down the street? Do we want an America that criminalizes 1.6 million children? Because that is exactly what this bill will do.

As the daughter of immigrants, I am offended by this bill, and I urge my colleagues to think long and hard about the vote they are about to cast and the detrimental impact it will have on the proud tradition of immigration that this country was built on.

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