Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2007

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007 -- (Senate - July 13, 2006)

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, yesterday I offered a commonsense amendment that would help secure our broken immigration system, at least in part. This is an amendment which would have helped the Department of Homeland Security and the Border Patrol execute what is known as catch and return--or expedited return--rather than the current catch and release program that the Department has been engaged in when it comes to people who come illegally into our country from places other than Mexico.

Last year, 1.1 million people were detained coming across our southern border, and 250,000 of those--about a quarter--came from countries other than Mexico. The fact is that South America, Central America, and Mexico itself have become a land bridge for people from around the world seeking to come through our southern border into the United States.

The only way we are going to be able to begin to deal with this is to create a real deterrence that convinces people that if they attempt to immigrate illegally across our southern border, they will not only be detained but they will be returned to their country of origin without any delay.

Because of a lack of personnel and because of inadequate policies, we have had what has literally come to be known as a catch and release policy. In other words, people who come from Mexico can be returned literally the same day. But if you come from countries other than Mexico, it takes on average about 2 months to return those individuals to their country of origin because of the need to process the paperwork, get permission of that country to return the foreign national to that country, and the like.

The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, has specifically said that this is a key to the success of our expedited removal program, which will finally allow us to create some deterrence when it comes to fixing our broken immigration system and border security controls.

I ask unanimous consent that Secretary Chertoff's letter of March 27, 2006, endorsing this amendment's approach be printed in the RECORD at the end of my remarks.

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Mr. CORNYN. Specifically what this amendment would do is deal with El Salvadoran immigrants who are the subject of the so-called Orantes injunction. This was issued by the Federal court in Los Angeles in 1988, and still exists today, which inhibits the Department's ability to use expedited removal when it comes to Salvadorans. It is clear when you compare the track record for the Salvadoran population as opposed to those from other countries that expedited removal works. But for this injunction, which impedes the ability of the Department to use the expedited removal, I believe we would see a tremendous level of deterrence which would help, in connection with everything else we are doing, to discourage illegal immigration into our country.

The only reason I stand here today and am talking about this amendment and I am not able to ask for an up-or-down vote on this amendment and to implement this request from the Department of Homeland Security which will help us fix our broken border security system, which will allow us to use expedited removal, is because the Democratic leader sought, by use of a procedural motion last night about 6 o'clock, to make a set of circumstances where we could not have a vote on that amendment.

I think this is another test, a test of our will, a test of our national resolve to fix our broken immigration system and to secure our borders. Unfortunately, due to the action of the Democratic leader yesterday, I believe that is a further indication that we are failing that test.

The American people want us to act decisively to fix this problem. They recognize this is a Federal issue, that only the Federal Government can deal with our international borders and provide the kind of security that will allow us to know who is coming into our country and why individuals are getting here. We know many of them want to come here to work, to seek a greater opportunity. We all understand that on a very human level. But the same porous borders that allow workers to come across allow gang members, allow common criminals, narcotraffickers, and, yes, even terrorists to enter our country without our knowing it only to do their mischief at a later time.

I believed it was incumbent upon me to come to the Chamber to explain my deep disappointment in this procedural move that was engaged in by the Democratic leader yesterday, which has denied us an opportunity to have a vote on this important amendment, one endorsed by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and one which I believe is absolutely essential to our restoring credibility to our border security efforts by enabling our Border Patrol to use this well-recognized mechanism of expedited removal and deterrence.

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