Cornyn, Kyl Co-Chair Hearing On Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Cornyn, Kyl Co-Chair Hearing On Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Fourth hearing in a series on border security and comprehensive immigration reform; Focus on need for both enforcement and reform
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Opening Statement
WASHINGTON-U.S. Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship subcommittee, and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security subcommittee, co-chaired a joint hearing on Tuesday. The hearing is the fourth in an ongoing series to examine ways of strengthening our nation's border and homeland security, and implementing comprehensive reform of our broken immigration system.
"For far too long, the debate over immigration has divided Americans of good will into one of two camps - those who are angry and frustrated by our failure to enforce the rule of law, and those who are angry and frustrated that our immigration laws do not reflect reality," Cornyn said at the hearing. "But both camps are right. This is not an either/or proposition. We need stronger enforcement and reasonable reform of our immigration laws."
The Tuesday hearing begins a second phase on comprehensive reform, following three hearings this spring that focused on: the need for better training for border inspectors; ensuring document security and integrity; finding and closing gaps in the visa system; interior enforcement, including detention and deportation; border security between authorized ports of entry; and the use of technology to protect the borders.
The hearing examined the national security justifications for immigration reform. "Our nation's immigration and border security system is badly broken. It leaves our borders unprotected, threatens our national security, and makes a mockery of the rule of law," Cornyn said. "The system has suffered from years of neglect, and in a post-9/11 world, we cannot tolerate this situation any longer. National security demands a comprehensive solution to our immigration system - and that means both stronger enforcement and reasonable reform of our immigration laws. We must solve this problem - and solve it now."
Witnesses included Asa Hutchinson, former Under Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, the lead person on setting the nation's immigration priorities; Professor Margaret Stock, Assistant Professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point with an expertise in immigration; and Mark Reed, a founder of the consulting firm Border Management Strategies and former 27-year-veteran of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Cornyn added: "Any reform proposal must serve both our national security and our national economy. It must be both capable of securing our country and compatible with growing our economy. Our current broken system provides badly needed sources of labor, but through illegal channels - posing a substantial and unacceptable risk to our national security. Yet simply closing our borders would secure our nation only by weakening our economy. Any comprehensive solution must address both concerns."
In April, Cornyn and Kyl announced their intentions to introduce legislation that will dramatically strengthen enforcement, bolster border security, and comprehensively reform our immigration laws. They plan to introduce the comprehensive legislation by the end of the summer following a thorough review of immigration laws, which includes this series of hearings. As senators from the states of Texas and Arizona, Cornyn and Kyl represent approximately 85 percent of the nation's southern border.
Among the goals of the hearings are to determine which challenges facing our broken immigration system can be solved with more resources or additional legal tools, and which require more fundamental and comprehensive reforms to current immigration law and other domestic policies, such as a temporary work and return program.
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http://cornyn.senate.gov/releases.cfm