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Roberts puts 'border security first,' reform second


In visit to Dodge City, U.S. senator talks about immigration, beef woes

By Tim Vandenack

The Hutchinson News


tvandenack@hutchnews.com

DODGE CITY - Don't expect passage of immigration legislation this year, U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts says.

By contrast, 2007, with midterm elections a thing of the past, "will be the year of immigration reform," he predicted Thursday during a stopover in Dodge City.

Immigration reform ratcheted up the national agenda this spring after a series of nationwide rallies by protestors clamoring for the rights of illegal immigrants and change granting them a pathway to residency. The Senate subsequently drafted a reform proposal, but Roberts said time is lacking to reconcile that with a House plan before the year ends.

Moreover, the Dodge City Republican characterized the Senate plan, which he opposed, as sorely underfunded and said efforts, at least initially, should focus on strengthening security on the U.S.-Mexico border to stem illegal inflows. In addition to tighter border security, the Senate plan calls for change that would grant some undocumented immigrants a pathway to legal status.

"I want to be very clear on where I stand - border security first, immigration reform second," Roberts said.

Even if a plan isn't devised until next year, all is not lost, the senator said, alluding to President Bush's decision to send National Guard troops to the Mexican border to help with security there. "The good news is that we are beefing up border security," he said.

Sufficiently securing the border could take up to five years, Roberts estimated, though he set no time frame for consideration of broader reform, if his call for addressing security first is to be followed. In the meantime, he said discussion of the immigration issue - particularly relevant in southwest Kansas given the large population of Hispanic newcomers - needs to continue in earnest.

"We're going to have to solve this problem," he said. "We have to come to some logical solutions."

Roberts lauded Japan's decision to reopen its borders to U.S. beef once again but also called it "long overdue." The Asian nation closed its borders to U.S. beef after the discovery of mad cow disease in a U.S. cow in late 2003, reopened them two years later, then shut them down again shortly thereafter when prohibited cow parts were found in a U.S. beef shipment.

However, he said he's willing to revisit the possibility of trade sanctions - mulled in the lead-up to Japan's decision to reopen its borders - if the country once again closes itself to U.S. beef. "I think that the threat of sanctions really got their attention," he said.

Roberts also called for creation of a "Manhattan Project for energy," alluding to the U.S. government effort during World War II to develop nuclear weapons. The aim would be to concentrate efforts at addressing U.S. energy woes.

Roberts is on a weeklong swing through western Kansas that ends next Wednesday.


08/18/2006; 02:34:31 AM