Issue Position: Justice and Crime - Immigration Reform

Issue Position

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) estimates that, as of October 1996, over 5 million illegal aliens were residing within the borders of the United States. Given the age of the estimate and the obvious difficulty of counting illegal residents, this figure certainly underestimates the size of the illegal population and the extent of the problem. Unfortunately, when reasonable Americans express concern regarding the problems associated with illegal immigration, they are often attacked as racist, or accused of hypocrisy because their ancestors were legal immigrants. In order to address the problems raised by illegal immigration we must establish a working dialogue among the people at the state and local levels who are most affected by them.

Congress has an important role to play in this area. It is up to Congress to determine which immigrants are legal and which are illegal. Once Congress makes these decisions, it is up to the INS to enforce the laws and ensure the security of our borders. The presence of over 5 million illegal immigrants in the country indicates that the INS has failed to do its jobs.

As you know, the INS has two missions, a "service" mission: to facilitate legal immigration, and an "enforcement: mission: to prevent illegal immigration. In practice, these missions are often conflicting. Despite Congress's approval of large increases in INS budget and staff, the service continues to come under fire for not meeting its obligations under the law.

During the 107th Congress, Representative F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-WI) introduced H.R. 3231 - the Immigration Reform and Accountability Act of 2001. H.R. 3231 sought to replace (in the Department of Justice) the INS with the Agency for Immigration Affairs, to be headed by the Associate Attorney General for Immigration Affairs. Within the new agency would be established the Bureau of Immigration Services and Adjudications and the Bureau of Immigration Enforcement to better accomplish both missions of the current INS.

H.R. 3231 also expresses the sense of Congress that the Bureaus are equally important and should be adequately funded. It further directs the Attorney General to establish an Internet-based system for accessing Immigration and Nationality Act benefit filings, conduct an on-line filing and improved processing feasibility study, and establish a Technology Advisory Committee.

Reform of the INS is one of the most important steps Congress can take to stem the tide of illegal immigration. On April 25, 2002 I, along with 404 of my colleagues, voted to pass H.R. 3231. Unfortunately, the U.S. Senate did not take action on the bill before the end of the 107th Congress.

A number of recent events, including the terrorist attacks of 2001, the sniper shootings in Washington, and the Haitian boat incident in Florida, have again demonstrated the urgent need for a complete overhaul at the INS and in the way we protect our borders against a flood of illegal immigrants. I firmly believe Congress must turn its attention to this problem as soon as possible or the impacts stemming from our porous borders will only get worse.

You may also be interested to know that I recently supported an amendment to the 2003 Defense Authorization bill that would authorize the Secretary of Defense to assign members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps, under certain circumstances and subject to certain conditions, to assist the Department of Homeland Security in the performance of border protection functions.

The Washington Times recently reported that at least 14 al Qaeda members are thought to be in Mexico attempting to infiltrate the U.S. Numerous illegal immigrant smuggling operations involving transportation of aliens in tractor trailers, trucks, and railcars have been recently discovered (including the death of 19 such aliens in southern Texas). The superior training, technological advantages, and deterrence provided by American military personnel will reduce border infiltration and make our nation more secure.

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