Date: 2005-12-16
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. the Congress has been negligent in dealing with the challenge of border security. homeland security and immigration policy reform. We must do what is necessary to protect our homeland and implement comprehensive immigration reform. It is time to address these issues in a meaningful way. Unfortunately. this legislation fails to meet* the test. This bill does contain some important provisions that will enhance border security. Indeed. the bill that emerged from the Homeland Security Committee was one that I could basically support.- Unfortunately. the Judiciary Committee put politics over policy and added a number of highly objectionable provisions. Some of these provisions will turn a number of wellintentioned and law abiding citizens into criminals and felons. Other provisions penalize many individuals who have come to this country lawfullybut have. through no fault of their own. become ensnared in a bureaucratic snafu with the Citizenship and Immigration Services where if someone misses a deadline by a day in changing their visa category they can be prosecuted for unlawful presence. Moreover. visitors from other countries who are here on tourist visas but cannot return to their country within -the visa timeframe because of a natural disaster or the outbreak of civil war will be made into criminals. This bill is also flawed in a number of other respects. First. it creates the dangerous illusion that we are addressing the most pressing homeland security issues. when we are not. The 9/11 Commission recently released its assessment of the progress being made by the Bush administration and this Congress on the adoption of its recommendations. More than half of the grades issued by the commission were Ds or Fs. This bill does not address any of the shortcomings identified by the 9/11 Commission. As such. it is a fraud on the American people to pretend that this bill significantly enhances homeland security. We are missing an important opportunity to remedy the homeland security failures identified by the 9/11 Commission. Finally. this bill contains another gaping holethe failure to address the issueof the approximately 11 million undocumented persons that are currently in the United States. President Bush has repeatedly stated that any immigration reform effort must find a way to bring these individuals out of the shadows of our communities. A number of thoughtful bills have been introduced to address that issue. including one introduced by two of our Republican colleagues. Representatives FLAKE and KOLBE. On the Senate side. the McCainKennedy legislation contains a number of ideas to address this issue. By refusing to allow a vote on these proposals. we do a disservice to our Nation. Once again. the House is abdicating its.responsibility by failing to squarely meet the challenge we face. * Let me also say a word about the amendment offered to this bill to construct a partial fence along our southwest border. I support the construction of a fence to better secure our border and supported its funding in the Homeland Security Appropriations Act. However. the amendment offered by Mr. DUNCAN doesnt simply provide for a fence. In a typical example of congressional overreaching and micromanagement. the amendment specifies exactly how such a fence will be built and the precise location of each segment of the fence. We are neither engineers nor construction managers nor do we know the best alignment of such a fence. We should simply direct the experts to construct a fence that accomplishes the objective of limiting illegal immigration and allow it to be built in the most costeffective .manner. Mr. Chairman. I believe that this bill contains some positive changes that enhance border security at the same time it leaves a number of gaping holes and includes a number of provisions that take us in the wrong direction. On balance. I believe this is a flawed bill. I hope the Senate will address the serious shortcomings in this bill so we can adopt a meaningful bill that meets the challenges that we face.