TRANSCRIPT:  Rep. Bilbray on Fox News - The Big Story with John Gibson

Among the House Republicans that led these efforts is Congressman Brian Bilbray. He joins us now live. Congressman, so this thing is about to happen. I guess that there will be 700 miles of new fencing. That still leaves something on the order of 1,300 miles of open border through Texas and elsewhere. Is this going to solve the problem or just kick the problem to the East, down there around Big Bend National Park in Texas?

REP. BRIAN BILBRAY (R), CALIFORNIA: That's a great leap in the right direction. I mean, obviously, securing our frontiers so that not only illegal aliens, but contraband and possibly weapons of mass destruction aren't going to just crossover easily.

And let me tell you something, John. I have seen the transformation in the Tijuana Valley where I grew up where the fence made all the difference in the world. I have got a 19-year-old daughter that is down there every day, and before the fence I wouldn't have any of my children down there, even my wife. So I think the American people should be happy that the president has joined with us, the Senate joined with the House of Representatives and we talked about doing what we can do, where we can do it. So this is obviously the first phase. We've got to secure the southern border, but we've also got to do interior enforcement and secure our neighborhoods at the same time.

GIBSON: Congressman, now that the border fence is going forward, we're starting to hear from people who actually didn't think it ever would, who live along the Rio Grande and are now kind of shocked that they're going to be blocked from the river. That is, people on the U.S. side. They won't be able to use the river. When they have relatives that cross on the other side, they won't be able to cross and see them. Is that just an, oh, well, in the current atmosphere?

BILBRAY: That's not only an oh, well, that is part of the fact that we have not only a right but a responsibility to secure our frontiers and people thinking that they have a right to cross back and forth the border in any manner they want is really antiquated.

I grew up on the border and used to go bow hunting in Mexico and crossed the border back and forth in the good old days. The good old days are over with. We're in a world that's totally different than it was in the past and all of us along the frontier have to understand that securing the frontiers of the United States is not only the right, it's a responsibility and we've got to quit finding excuses, not doing these common sense things that have been ignored for too long because of some misguided concept of political correctness.

GIBSON: Congressman, you do represent a part of California, I'm reading today, that growers up in central California cannot find workers. That crops are sitting unpicked because there aren't the illegals around to do the picking. What do you tell them?

BILBRAY: I tell them the illegals are going and doing construction and doing dry wall and working in restaurants. The fact is there is a way we could do a -- carve out a special program for agriculture, but it's for legal nationals coming into this country legally. They need to have a major portion of their income held, like 30 percent, and you've got to -- you can't give automatic citizenship of the children of illegals at the same time.

GIBSON: Congressman Brian Bilbray in the San Diego area. Congressman, thank you very much, appreciate it. 

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