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July 07, 2006, 5:40 a.m.

Comprehensive Failure
Moving Congress toward workable enforcement.


By Senator Rick Santorum


Most Americans understand that we are not in full control of our borders; decades of amnesty policies and national neglect have left them porous and dangerously dilapidated. Congress has heard the public outcry and has spent considerable time debating the best way to fix our borders and reform our immigration laws.

But neither the House nor the Senate bill quite works. While the House-passed bill understands the urgency of securing out borders, it’s impractical — both in enforcement practice and in practical politics. The Senate bill, meanwhile, does exactly the wrong thing — offers illegal immigrants amnesty, provides them Social Security benefits for years they worked while residing here illegally, and affords some worksite employment rights in the agricultural sector that are more extensive than those legal residents enjoy.

While I believe the House and Senate deserve credit for beginning this debate, the bills each body passed still leave our nation no closer to securing our borders. For this reason, I have introduced my own bill; S. 3564, the Border Security First Act. My bill takes a first-things-first approach. This first step cannot, and should not, wait for a “comprehensive” solution. When we secure our borders — and only then — we can address the remaining illegal immigration-related challenges with the apposite remedies.

Because controlling unlawful immigration and its attendant troubles first requires a secure border, the Border Security First Act provides more inspectors, marshals, aerial vehicles, virtual fencing, helicopters, computers, communications and tracking equipment, checkpoints, and additional detention space to enable our border security personnel to fight this battle with necessary resources.

Because our borders transcend states and regions, and our border insecurity threatens our entire nation, S. 3564 calls for a multi-pronged national strategy of coordination, cooperation, cost sharing, and cutting-edge technology development to secure our borders and ports, combat human smuggling, increase data sharing, and crack down on document fraud through implementing biometric identification data systems. It also calls for strategic partnerships between federal, state, and local officials to implement their respective laws.

Because securing the border often costs more than states can afford to pay, S. 3564 provides grants to law enforcement agencies within 100 miles of the Canadian or Mexican borders; reimburses states for costs associated with processing, prosecuting, housing, and transporting illegal aliens; reimburses states for costs associated with transferring illegal immigrants to federal custody; expands border-security programs through federal departments such as the Commerce department; and mandates that the secretary of Homeland Security provide sufficient personnel to move from state custody to federal custody, for processing at a federally operated detention facility, illegal aliens apprehended by state or local officials.

The immigration crisis poses an immediate threat with potentially severe consequences in the short- and long-term. In addition to cartel and gang violence, drug traffic, and tremendously burdensome costs shouldered by our public education, health, and housing systems, porous borders permit and invite the nightmare security scenario — undetected terrorists crossing the border today and executing attacks when they choose, whether that be tomorrow, next month, or next year. For this reason, border security cannot wait for more hearings, debate, and compromise; it must be done right, and it must be done now.

Undoubtedly, the Border Security First Act will not be implemented without additional costs. But with nothing less than our national security and prosperity at stake, the costs associated with S. 3564 will be well worth the investment. Past decades have left our borders vulnerable; it is time to spend wisely what is necessary to make us safer.

Congress has already acted to reform our immigration laws, but the House and Senate should put border security first, reject amnesty, and pass a bill that gives our border-enforcement personnel the tools they require to meet the needs they face. S. 3564 is a step in the right direction and deserves immediate consideration.

— Senator Rick Santorum is a Republican from Pennsylvania.