Thank you for contacting me to express your support for H.R. 3531, Accountability in Enforcing Immigration Laws Act. I appreciate hearing from you on this matter.

I agree that "sanctuary cities" are both illegal and detrimental to the security of our nation. They stand as defiant and egregious representations of the failure of American immigration policy. In fact, the most recent reports show that 3 states, nearly 50 cities, and Washington D.C. have each adopted by these policies that prevent local police officers from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Due to the growing number of "sanctuary cities", I have been very active on this issue since I was sworn into office. In December of 2005, I drafted an amendment to H.R. 4437, the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act which passed the House. The Senate, however, decided to draft their own legislation, S. 2611, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, with amnesty and expanded benefits for illegal immigrants included. Again, this year, I offered a "sanctuary policy" amendment to H.R. 5441, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2007, that passed by a vote of 218 to 179. Like my measure included in H.R. 4437, this amendment would have punished cities that enact illegal alien "sanctuary" laws by prohibiting them from receiving federal homeland security grants. When the Senate and House came together to conference on H.R. 5441, I generated a coalition of around thirty members and strongly urged the conference committee to include the amendment in the final bill. The committee, however, decided to not include it in the conference report and such it did not become law.

As Congress seeks new ways to reform our immigration policies, it is imperative that we use existing resources more effectively. By denying federal funding to "sanctuary" cities and states, my amendments would have provided an enforcement mechanism for existing federal law and help open the door for more cooperation between federal and local law enforcement. This cooperation is the key to attaining our goal of strictly enforcing our immigration law, removing illegal aliens from cities and states, and sealing our borders.

In order to accomplish this goal, I was pleased to cosponsor H.R. 2954, the Secure Borders FIRST Act, which would mandate that the Department of Homeland Security gain operational control of all our borders within the next six years, authorize additional border-security personnel, require expedited removal for any illegal aliens apprehended within 100 miles of the border within two weeks of entry, and make alien street gang members deportable and inadmissible. The bill also includes strong worksite-enforcement provisions and would require tamper-resistant biometric Social Security cards which will significantly minimize fraud. H.R. 2954 is currently in the House Committee on 2954 and I will be encouraging Members of the House to quickly bring this legislation to the floor.

Our nation has a proud heritage of legal immigration, but we should not allow this to mask the current disrepair of our border and immigration policies. If you would like to find more information regarding my actions related to illegal immigration, I encourage you to visit my website's immigration reform action center at http://campbell.house.gov/immigrationreform/ .

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me. Having the benefit of your views is important, and I appreciate you sharing them with me.

I remain respectfully yours,
JOHN CAMPBELL
Member of Congress

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I guess I'm lucky I have a decent congressional rep!