http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/state/15100609.htm

Posted on Sat, Jul. 22, 2006

House Speaker Hastert tours El Paso border over immigration

ALICIA A. CALDWELL
Associated Press

EL PASO, Texas - House Speaker Dennis Hastert finished a two-day visit to the U.S. border Saturday with a tour of a port of entry in El Paso and repeated calls for security reforms to protect the border.

Hastert, R-Ill., said he made the trip to determine what resources were needed to secure the border and stop illegal immigration. On Friday, he and several other members of Congress made three stops in Arizona, a hotspot for illegal immigration, and saw National Guard troops building fences near the border as part of President Bush's Operation Jump Start.

Speaking for the group, which included Reps. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., and Bobby Rush, an Illinois Democrat, Hastert said Saturday that securing the border must be the focus of any immigration legislation.

Hastert's visit comes amid the ongoing and contentious national debate about the future of U.S. immigration policy that has prompted mass protests around the country.

Both the House and Senate have passed immigration reform bills, but a compromise bill for the president's approval has not been worked out.

Hastert said he would only support legislation that focuses first on security and does not give illegal immigrants amnesty.

"We have to protect America," Hastert said. "We don't think the Senate bill...is the right thing to do."

The House bill, HR 4437, which passed in December, is focused on enforcement and does not address a guest worker program or a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants already in the United States.

The Senate bill, passed earlier this year, does include a guest worker program and other reforms, some of which have been billed as amnesty by opponents.

Hastert's border visit was criticized by U.S. Reps. Silvestre Reyes and Charlie Gonzalez, both Texas Democrats who were part of the delegation.

In statements released by Reyes and Gonzalez, both congressmen said the tour was more about politics than achieving substantive reform.

"We always like to have members visit El Paso, but we'd much rather have them working back in Washington, D.C.," Reyes said in his statement. "And if the Republican leadership is so concerned about border security, I really wonder why they didn't make this trip before the House considered HR 4437, and why they aren't appointing conferees to craft a final bill with the Senate."