April 19, 2013
By Penny Starr
cns news


Sam Page, sheriff of Rockingham County, N.C., spoke at a press conference on April 18, 2013 on Capitol Hill about immigration reform. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)

(CNSNews.com) – Rockingham County, N.C., Sheriff Sam Page told reporters on Thursday that “our borders are unsecured” and he faces the same challenges from illegal aliens as his colleagues in border states.

“In the United States, our borders are unsecured,” Page said at a press conference held by Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and David Vitter (R-La.) and Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) to respond to the “Gang of 8’s” comprehensive immigration legislation unveiled Thursday that includes a pathway to citizenship.

“I can’t understand why the representatives in Washington cannot figure it out,” said Page, who is also the co-chairman of the National Sheriffs Association’s Immigration and Border Security Committee. “It’s not secure.

“When drug traffic and cartel members end up in Rockingham County – two to three days from the border – with weapons, drugs and money and are housed up my county, that concerns me,” Page said.

“I am a border sheriff also – from North Carolina,” Page said.

The lawmakers were joined by a large contingency of law enforcement personnel – including Chris Crane, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent -- who oppose a law that they say would virtually amount to amnesty for millions of illegal aliens and would make it impossible for them to enforce existing immigration laws.

Sessions said at the press conference that the 844-page bill would put “amnesty before enforcement” and would give illegal aliens “immediate legality with the promise of enforcement.”

“We can have no confidence in future law enforcement until the current constitutional law is upheld,” Sessions said.

“We must secure our borders,” Page said.

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