STATEMENT BY SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY ON THE SECURE FENCE ACT OF 2006

(AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY)

September 29, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 
 
Immigration reform is one of the most pressing issues we face today.  It’s a security issue, an economic issue, and a moral issue. President Bush told us that it was a top domestic priority.  
 
Many members in the Senate understood the importance of the issue and devoted an unprecedented number of weeks to hearings, mark-ups and extensive floor debate to this priority.  In May, the Senate passed a historic bipartisan bill supported by 64 Senators.
 
The House however passed a very different bill last December – one that has been roundly condemned as cruel and ineffective by religious leaders, Latino leaders, and immigration and security experts.  It focuses only on enforcement and makes it a felony for any Good Samaritan to help immigrants. As one religious leaders described it this week, you could go to jail for giving an undocumented immigrant a cup of water in Jesus’ name.
 
What’s more, the bill does nothing about the 12 million undocumented immigrants who are here already, and it does nothing about the nation’s future immigration needs – both vital ingredients to an effective immigration policy.  
 
Common sense tells us that enforcement alone is not the solution to today’s complex immigration challenges.  We can build fences, but people will come around them.  We can put high tech devices on our borders and they will deter some people, but we all know that many others still will find a way to come.  We can make criminals of the pastors and priests who help immigrants, but that’s not only contrary to our values, it will have little impact on immigration.
 
The logical next step would have been for Congress to appoint conferees so we could begin negotiating a compromise. That is what we do – pass a Senate bill and pass a House bill.  Then conferees are appointed from both Houses to reconcile their differences on the bill.  That is what Congress does on critical issues.  

But, instead of rolling up their sleeves and doing the work necessary to get legislation to the President's desk that deals with the key elements of the immigration problem -- that will bolster national security, ensure economic prosperity; and protect families -- the Republican leadership in the House frittered away the summer, preferring to embark on a political road show -- featuring 60 cynical one-sided hearings, and wasting millions of precious taxpayer dollars. And after the bunting came down and the klieg lights were removed, after all the political hoopla and hot rhetoric, what did they produce?  A fence.

Did they do anything about the millions of people who come here on airplanes with visas, and stay here illegally after their visas expire?  No.  Just a fence.

Did they do anything to ensure that employers don’t hire people who are here illegally? No.  Just a fence.

Did they do anything about the 12 million undocumented immigrants who are here already, living in the shadows while working hard to support their families? No.  Just a fence.

Yes, Republican leaders wasted time, opportunity, and your money.  For a $9 billion fence that won’t do the job.

That’s just a bumper sticker solution for a complex problem.

It’s a feel good plan that will have little effect in the real world.

We all know what this is about.  It may be good politics, but it’s bad immigration policy.

That’s not what Americans want.  They deserve something better than a fence.  

Over and over and over again, the American people have told us that they want our immigration system fixed, and fixed now.   They have told us that this complex problem requires a comprehensive solution.  The American people want tough but fair laws that will strengthen our borders and crack down on employers who hire undocumented workers, but at the same time provide a practical solution that will allow undocumented immigrants to become taxpaying legal workers who perform tasks needed by our economy.

Today or tomorrow, this Republican Congress will recess for the elections, and leave this issue still unresolved.   
 
I hope that we can use the next few weeks productively to work together on compromises that can be adopted when we return in November.
 
What is the solution?  How do we control our borders effectively? How do we restore the rule of law and make sure that immigrants come to this country with a visa, not with a smuggler?  
 
The bipartisan bill passed by the Senate is the only practical way to cure what ails us.  The only way we can truly bring illegal immigration under control and achieve border security is to combine enforcement and border protection with a realistic framework for legal immigration.  
 
It’s obvious that we have insufficient legal avenues for immigrant workers and families to come to this country, and no path to citizenship for the 12 million undocumented workers and families already here.  The problem is fueling a black market of smugglers and fake document-makers, to the peril of citizens and immigrants alike.  
 
Rather than saber-rattling, chest-thumping, and ranting, the American people would like to see both parties and both Houses of Congress come together to negotiate a realistic and enforceable policy for immigration.  
 
Piecemeal proposals won’t work.  They will only make a bad situation worse. Those who are here illegally will not leave, but will go deeper underground, and those seeking to enter will take even more dangerous routes and be less likely to survive. Employers will have an unstable workforce of men and women who are afraid to speak up when abused.  The dysfunctions and pathologies of the current failed system will continue to worsen.
 
On this specific proposal for a fence, let’s consider the facts:
 
Never mind that months ago the Senate voted to approve a 370 mile fence – exactly what Secretary Chertoff said he needed for targeted urban areas.
 
Never mind that the Senate has voted to fund the fence Secretary Chertoff requested.  It’s in the appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security that we will pass this afternoon.
 
Never mind that DHS has not requested additional fencing.  Last week, in promoting his “Secure Border Initiative”, Secretary Chertoff said, “What we are looking to build is a virtual fence, a 21st century virtual fence … one that does not involve old-fashioned fencing…”
 
Never mind that fencing is man-power intensive – you need border patrol agents to continuously monitor them to apprehend illegal crossers.  But this bill will require DHS to construct up to 850 miles of fencing in remote, desolate areas, in desert and wilderness areas, and even across rivers – where it will serve no security purpose whatsoever.  
Never mind that it will cost billions of dollars.  The Congressional Budget Office estimate the cost at roughly $3 million a mile, which may be on the low end -- the first 11 miles of the San Diego fence cost $3.8 million a mile and the final 3.5 mile section cost approximately $9 million a mile.   
 
As the Congressional Research Service recently noted, the costs may be even higher.  You need to take into account the terrain, land acquisition, environmental planning, private contractors, double layering, fence design, procurement costs and a number of other factors.  We also can’t forget the annual maintenance costs, which could be as high as $1 billion a year.
 
Never mind that fences don’t work.  Undocumented immigrant entries have increased tenfold since the strategy of fencing was introduced in the mid-1990s.  Since that time, the probability of apprehending an unauthorized border crosser fell from 20 percent to 5 percent.   The United States now spends $1700 per border apprehension, up from $300 in 1992.  San Diego’s wall has been a boon for the smuggling industry, and increased the loss of immigrant lives by shifting entry to the desert.  
Never mind that fencing will do nothing to stop the 40-50 percent of the people currently in the United States who entered the country with legal visas and have now overstayed their visas.
 
Never mind that fences won’t keep out criminals or terrorists.  The 9/11 terrorists didn’t come across the Mexican border illegally - they entered the U.S. with visas.  
 
Never mind that fences won’t stop immigrants from coming here to work. As Governor Napolitano of Arizona recently said: "You show me a 50-foot wall and I'll show you a 51-foot ladder at the border to get over it.”
Narrow, shortsighted, enforcement-only proposals like a fence will never fix our broken immigration system.

We should listen to Tom Ridge, former Secretary of Homeland Security, who recently said, “Trying to gain operational control of the borders is impossible unless our enhanced enforcement efforts are coupled with a robust Temporary Guest Worker program and a means to entice those now working illegally out of the shadows into some type of legal status.”  
 
A group of former high-ranking government officials has said unequivocally, “The reality is that stronger enforcement and a more sensible approach to the 10-12 million illegal aliens in the country today are inextricably interrelated.  One cannot succeed without the other.”
President Bush agreed.  In May, he got it right when he declared, and I quote, "An immigration reform bill needs to be comprehensive because all elements of this problem must be addressed together, or none of them will be solved at all."

What the Republican leadership doesn't seem to get, is that comprehensive immigration reform is all about security.

Homeland Security. Economic Security. Family security.

That is what the vast majority of our people want. They want realistic solutions that effectively protect our nation.  They don’t want piecemeal, feel-good measures that will waste billions of precious taxpayer dollars and do nothing to correct the serious problems.

What can we expect in the next month?

The Republican leadership has two choices.  They can bring us together to work out effective compromises for a comprehensive bill.

Or they can continue to use hard working immigrants as political pawns for November’s elections.  

I hope that they will not choose the politically expedient choice – to embark on another slanderous campaign, featuring more political stunts, misleading press releases, and glossy campaign ads about how tough they are on the border.

The Chicago Tribune editorial page understands this tactic. Earlier this week they wrote that "Immigrant bashing is so much easier than immigration reform."  
Sacrificing good immigration policy for political expediency and hateful rhetoric is not just shameful -- it is cowardly.

We have the bill to solve this problem now.

We owe the American people a serious answer on the issue, and our Republican leadership should be held accountable for their inaction and their inability to address this pressing issue facing our nation.

Let's stop this farce.  Let’s stop playing politics with immigration.  We know they’re wrong.  Their scheme will leave us weaker and less secure. We can’t allow them to derail our strong bipartisan reforms.   
 
I urge my colleagues to choose good policy over political expedience and oppose this bill.
 

Press Contact

Laura Capps/Melisa Wagoner (202) 224-2633

• Print this Page
• e-Mail this Page
• Respond to this page

• Home > 
• Newsroom > 
• Press Releases >