Thread: Hastert: U.S. can defend borders like it has Iraq's

Hastert: U.S. can defend borders like it has Iraq's

Chicago Sun-Times
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/hastert15.html

August 15, 2006

BY DENNIS CONRAD ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON-- House Speaker Dennis Hastert voiced confidence Tuesday that the United States can block illegal immigrants from crossing the nation's borders even though he estimates there are up to 15 million living here already.

"What we need to do is seal our border," he said during a phone interview with "The Don and Roma Morning Show" on Chicago's WLS radio station. "If someone is bleeding to death, first of all, you stop the bleeding. We need to stop the bleeding. We can seal the border."

Hastert, whose district includes some of Chicago's suburbs and outlying rural counties approaching the Mississippi River, said fences, pedestrian inhibitors and the Army Corps of Engineers and Border Patrol working together could accomplish the goal.

"I always say if we can protect Iraq's borders against Syria and, you know, Jordan, and everyplace else, Iran, we can protect our own borders," he said.

The Illinois Republican has been emphasizing the immigration issue in making the case to voters that they should keep Congress in GOP hands.

Hastert announced last month that the House would hold 19 hearings on immigration across 12 states to help put together legislation that could pass both the House and Senate and be signed by President Bush. He said Tuesday he wants to take immigration legislation one step at a time and argued that the first bill needs to focus on protecting the border with Mexico.

Hastert also said the "bad apples"--which he did not define--among the country's millions of illegal immigrants should be deported.

"We are serious about taking illegal aliens and moving them outside borders of our country," he said.

"When you become a citizen you have to learn English, and that's the thing: we have to urge that people go through the process," he added. "What we have is literally millions of people coming here ... not having to become a citizen, kind of living and working in the shadows, and these people need to make a decision ... I just don't think we can have two types of legalities in this country: what the law says and what we let happen."

The House has approved a bill to spend $1.9 billion to tighten U.S. borders, including putting thousands of Border Patrol agents and National Guard troops along the border with Mexico and paying for 40 miles of fencing and 140 miles of vehicle barriers on that border. The Homeland Security Department also plans to target illegal immigrants for deportation.

Bush has urged Congress to enact a temporary worker program to allow at least some illegal immigrants to stay. The Senate has approved a somewhat similar measure, but the House has not acted on it, as critics say it would give amnesty to those here illegally.

What we really need is for this government to understand that our "neighbor" to the south means us no good. Then we treat the border like we do in Korea.

These guys must have had some "awakening" or something. NOW they're all strong anti-illegal immigration supporters.

They must have been reading ALIPAC over their break.

I told you guys something was about to hit the fan. Who's next to come out of the shadows.....GWB ??

Hastert Quote: "What we need to do is seal our border," he said.

Notice it's gone from "SECURE the border" to "SEAL the border".

Hastert

"We are serious about taking illegal aliens and moving them outside borders of our country," he said.

Why don't they ever finish the sentence or idea.........

-- House Speaker Dennis Hastert voiced confidence Tuesday that the United States can block illegal immigrants from crossing the nation's borders even though he estimates there are up to 15 million living here already.

"What we need to do is seal our border," he said during a phone interview with "The Don and Roma Morning Show" on Chicago's WLS radio station. "If someone is bleeding to death, first of all, you stop the bleeding. We need to stop the bleeding. We can seal the border."

I agree 100% that we can stop the flow and secure our borders. I hope you really mean what you say...

"I always say if we can protect Iraq's borders against Syria and, you know, Jordan, and everyplace else, Iran, we can protect our own borders," he said.

Damn right skippy! In addition we can spend about a bazillion dollars all around the globe so I don't want to hear about cost either. Fence from coast to coast, much heaver border patrol and technology.

Hastert also said the "bad apples"--which he did not define--among the country's millions of illegal immigrants should be deported.

"We are serious about taking illegal aliens and moving them outside borders of our country," he said.

I'm little unclear what you are saying here but you better be saying that we are serious about moving ALL illegal aliens outside our borders.

Originally Posted by LegalUSCitizen

These guys must have had some "awakening" or something. NOW they're all strong anti-illegal immigration supporters.

Yeah, they just noticed that there are elections coming up in November, so it's time to set out the boob bait yet again.

Of course, they still won't have actually done anything about it, but they're all going to making themselves out to be John Wayne taming the Wild West singlehandedly.

Damn right skippy! In addition we can spend about a bazillion dollars all around the globe so I don't want to hear about cost either. Fence from coast to coast, much heaver border patrol and technology.

You're certainly right about that! Latest big spend would be the 200+ million we're probably going to spend in Lebanon and Isreal (already 24 million earmarked and talking about an increase of 200 million). While I support Isreal, I still think our priorities should be at home first! Seal the borders so tight a nats a$$ couldn't squeeze through - then will talk about financing other issues that fall in our realm of interest. Everything else comes in second when compared to our homeland emergencies.

It is not going to work as long as they won't let the border patrol do their job. They are sending a powerful message to border patrol agents that they should not do their jobs or they could be facing serious charges by convicting the 2 border patrol agents. What agent is going to do his job with this knowledge?

Originally Posted by loservillelabor

What we really need is for this government to understand that our "neighbor" to the south means us no good. Then we treat the border like we do in Korea.

Yep, thats exactly what needs to be done, creat a DMZ there like in N.Korea, i predict this will happen sooner than alot of us may think, we will have no choice.

The Illinois Republican has been emphasizing the immigration issue in making the case to voters that they should keep Congress in GOP hands.

Well then Senator Hasstert, prove to the American people that the GOP Congress is worthy of staying in office by acting on our behalf for a change!!!