Thread: Hastert: 'Zero' entry by migrants

Published: 07.22.2006

Hastert: 'Zero' entry by migrants
Group of mostly GOP lawmakers tours border
By Josh Brodesky
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
NOGALES, Ariz. — Saying there needed to be "zero penetration" into the United States by illegal entrants, House Speaker Dennis Hastert got a look Friday at the challenges faced by those trying to secure the southern border.
The Illinois Republican and a handful of other lawmakers, including Republican Rep. Jim Kolbe, from Southern Arizona, are visiting the border with Mexico.
On Friday, the group took a daylong tour in Arizona, including an afternoon stop in Yuma and a late-night ride-along with Border Patrol agents near Nogales. The congressional leaders visit El Paso today.
The border-security tour comes about two months after the Senate passed a bill that would give the chance of citizenship to millions of illegal entrants. Hastert has been critical of the proposed legislation, saying there needs to be a greater focus on border security.
During a press conference at the Nogales International Airport, he reiterated that stance saying he wanted "zero penetration" along the border.
"You gotta secure the border before you do other things," he said, referring to proposed Senate immigration legislation such as a guest-worker program and opening the citizenship process to the nation's estimated 12 million illegal entrants.
"We have a border that is bleeding, and we need to heal it," he said.
Hastert said he would like to see more personnel, increased fencing and a greater use of technology along the border.
The House has passed its own immigration legislation, which is more punitive and focuses on increased border security.
Kolbe said he did not think Hastert's goal of "zero penetration" was possible, but he added that border security was the first step toward more comprehensive immigration reform.
The delegation began the day in Louisiana to look at hurricane reconstruction.
The lawmakers then traveled to Yuma, where they met with National Guard soldiers who are supporting the Border Patrol before moving on to Camp Grip, a remote Arizona desert site on the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge west of Ajo that officials described as an area used by smugglers.
In Nogales, the lawmakers spent most of the evening resting before taking a border tour later in the evening.
During the night tour, which lasted about 20 minutes, the delegation visited the Border Patrol's Nogales station.
Agents then took the group about a mile west of Nogales to a site where the Border Patrol had put up vehicle barriers about a month ago.
In the darkness, Hastert and Kolbe scanned the border for a few minutes using night-vision goggles. The tour, scheduled to last an hour and include three locations, was cut short because the lawmakers were tired.
Hastert said it was good to come to the border and "get a dose of reality."
The delegation included one Democrat, but it did not include Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva who represents Yuma and Nogales.
Speaking by telephone from Washington, D.C., Grijalva said he was not asked to be part of the delegation.
He referred to the visit as a "road show" designed to "keep the Republican majority."
He said he thought the issue of immigration reform had taken a back seat to politics, and he questioned Hastert's focus on border security.
"You need to deal with the realities of the people who are here (already illegally), and the need to keep the work force going," he said.
Asked why Grijalva was not invited, Hastert did not provide a direct answer. "This is a bipartisan thing," he said of the tour. "We're bipartisan here."
In addition to Kolbe and Hastert, the delegation included: House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y.; Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich.; Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La.; Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M.; Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz; and Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill. However, Pearce and Hayworth were not with the delegation in Nogales.
Coming Sunday
● See Sunday's Arizona Daily Star for a story about the lawmakers' late-night tour along the border.
On StarNet: More border coverage, including multimedia features and a border blog at azstarnet.com/border
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/138994

"You need to deal with the realities of the people who are here (already illegally), and the need to keep the work force going,"

I wish he wouldn't have said that........... The beginning of the sell out.

Originally Posted by crazybird

"You need to deal with the realities of the people who are here (already illegally), and the need to keep the work force going,"

I wish he wouldn't have said that........... The beginning of the sell out.

But that was Grijalva and he is known to be pro-illegal immigrant. He made a fool of himself (in my eyes) during the house meeting at the San Diego Border Patrol office. Not surprised he wasn't along 'for the ride.' His mind is closed re the issue.