National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006 -- (House of Representatives - May 25, 2005)
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Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Chairman, it should be known that the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Reyes) has years of very profound experience, serving our country not only in the United States military, but certainly as a border patrol agent and certainly a leader in that particular profession.
Let me suggest to my colleagues that albeit there is a crisis and a need for Federal intervention on immigration, I would join my colleagues and ask that we join it in comprehensive immigration reform, legislative initiatives that have been offered by the Senate and the House. I have just introduced a Save America comprehensive immigration reform bill; and frankly, if we would fund fully border patrol agents and ICE agents, the problem would be solved.
Putting military at the borders is a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, and it misuses our military whose basic training is defense and shoot to kill. Migrants and immigrants are not enemy combatants. And, frankly, if you come to the border of Texas where people live in harmony, those who happen to look possibly alike, illegal immigrants, there is a great possibility of danger, danger to the soldiers and danger to those civilians.
Border patrol agents are serving our country. In fact, in testimony yesterday before our Subcommittee on Homeland Security, when I spoke to one of their representatives, he indicated what is the sense of training military personnel who are temporarily in the United States Army or Marines, and then lose or eliminate that training by them leaving the service and losing the investment, where you would have border patrol agents who have the long-term investment.
Mr. Chairman, yes, this sounds great and it has an emotional appeal as we go toward Memorial Day, but I have the greatest respect and honor for the United States military as they fight to defend this Nation. To use them in a civilian capacity that is the responsibility of the Federal Government is an outrage and should not be done.
Let us work together harmoniously to secure the American borders in the right way, and let us allow the United States military to serve their Nation and defend this country in the way that they have been trained to do it, not water down their duties and add to the danger of civilian/military conflict.
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I rise in opposition to this amendment. It would authorize the Secretary of Defense to assign members of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Marines to assist the Department of Homeland Security in the performance of border protection functions.
I share my colleague's desire for a secure border, but this is not the way to do it. Border security is a civilian responsibility that has been assigned to the Department of Homeland Security, not to the military. I also want to express my disapproval of permitting civilian volunteers such as the minutemen to assist in securing our borders. We can provide the additional support the Department needs by increasing the number of border patrol agents. Soldiers are not necessary or desirable as border patrolmen.
Putting troops on the border would violate the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which prohibits the United States military from patrolling within United States borders.
The United States military is stretched thin from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Putting troops at our border would further strain our capabilities abroad.
Migrants are not enemy combatants. They are seeking better economic opportunities for their families. Their plight should not be combated with military force, but rather with immigration reform.
The United States Border Patrol actively cooperates with the military in many areas-from infrastructure construction to the implementation of new high-tech monitoring such as unmanned aerial vehicles. The Border Patrol already knows when and how to ask for cooperation from the military.
The military is not trained to operate in United States civilian communities, as is the case with much of the border. More than 10 million people live along the American side of the Mexico border. Putting military patrols in their communities would put many people at risk.
For instance, on May 20, 1997, a Marine shot and killed an 18-year-old goat herder, Ezekiel "Zeke" Hernandez. The incident occurred on the eastern outskirts of the village of Redford, Texas. The Marines were on the border to patrol against drug smugglers. Ezekiel was shot because he was carrying a gun to protect his flock, and fired a shot, most likely to scare away predators threatening his herd. In view of the fact the Marines were camouflaged, it is unlikely that Ezekiel saw them. I do not want to see more incidents like this take place on American soil.
I urge you to vote against this amendment.
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Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Chairman, first of all I want to thank the ranking member, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton), and the chairman, the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter), for a bill that is probably one of the more important initiatives that this Congress addresses, and that is the ordering and the governance of the United States Military, particularly this week that we honor those fallen heroes.
Might I also say, however, that I wish appropriately that this legislation had the fullness of opportunity for many of us to debate. I am reminded that times before this legislation was debated for 2 weeks because it is so important and so crucial for the men and women of the United States military.
I rise in support of an amendment offered by my distinguished colleague, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hostettler), which I am a cosponsor of. I was a cosponsor of that bill, and this was an amendment that was taken from H.R. 2293. I continue to support it. It would provide special immigrant status for a limited number of Iraqis and Afghanis who have served as translators for the U.S. armed services.
The translators are providing services for our combat forces in Iraq. And according to the Marines who work with them, the translators and their immediate families live in constant danger of debt because of the key support they are providing for our combat forces. The Marine commanders have expressed a desire to help them come to the U.S. with their immediate families, and we wanted to answer their call. The commanders believe that the lives of the translators will be in even jeopardy when the Marines withdraw from Iraq.
The translators have gone far beyond just providing translation services. They stay with the Marines in their camps, in the same living quarters, and eat chow with the soldiers every day.
I am reminded of the individual who helped translate and ultimately found Saddam Hussein. He now is a citizen of the United States, was previously so, but has the ability to come here and he is provided safety for him and his family.
The amendment would make permanent resident visas available to the nationals of Iraq and Afghanistan and their spouses and children who have helped the U.S. in this most difficult effort. And so I would ask my colleagues to support this.
As I rise to honor these individuals, might I also say that we need to honor the fallen dead who come home to our shores and allow them to be honored when these soldiers return home. And I hope that we will look forward to removing the executive order that requires lights out when our fallen heroes have come back having served in the United States military, and having lost their lives in battle.
Mr. Chairman, I ask my colleagues to support the Hostettler/Jackson-Lee amendment.
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I rise in support of the amendment offered by my distinguished colleague, the gentleman from Indiana, Mr. HOSTETTLER. I was a cosponsor of the bill that this amendment was taken from, H.R. 2293, and I continue to support it in its present form. It would provide special immigrant status for a limited number of Iraqis and Afghanistani who have served as translators for the U.S. Armed Forces.
The translators are providing services for our combat forces in Iraq. According to the Marines who work with them, the translators and their immediate families live in constant danger of death because of the key support they are providing for our combat forces. The Marine commanders have expressed a desire to help them to come to the U.S. with their immediate families. The commanders believe that the lives of the translators will be in even greater jeopardy when the Marines withdraw from Iraq.
The translators have gone far beyond just providing translation services. They stay with the Marines in their camp, in the same living quarters, and eat chow with the soldiers every day. They go into the field with the Marines. They have fought along side of them and shed blood with them during combat operations. Some of the Marines feel so strongly about helping the translators that they have offered to take them into their homes in the United States until they have had enough time to settle in and find places of their own.
The amendment would make permanent resident visas available to nationals of Iraq and Afghanistan (and their spouses and minor children) who have worked directly with U.S. Armed Forces as translators for at least 12 months, who have obtained favorable written recommendations from the officer in charge of the unit they worked with, and who have cleared a background check. No more than 50 principals would be eligible to receive permanent resident status. The recipients would count towards the 10,000-per-year quota of special immigrant visas.
I am pleased that we can offer permanent resident status to such deserving immigrants with a bipartisan bill. I urge you to vote for this amendment.
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Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I thank the distinguished gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton), and I thank him again for his leadership. I thank the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) for allowing us to have the opportunity to stand on the floor of the House just a few days away from honoring America's war dead, and I hope that this debate is not in any way suggesting our lack of respect and admiration for those fallen as well as their families. I do not believe the distinguished gentlewoman from California has any idea or any sense of disrespecting the Nation's fallen dead. In fact, so many of us, no matter where we have come from, have soldiers and families living among us, families that mourned and families that are willing and wanting for their loved ones to come home.
This is not Vietnam in terms of the approach that those of us who are against the war would put it in that context. We understand that the troops are following the orders of their leaders, the Commander in Chief, the United States Congress. That is why this amendment puts the burden on the United States Congress and asks for the President to create a success strategy, an exit strategy that will allow these troops to come home.
This is about conserving resources. We have 140,000 troops in Iraq. We have equipment that is stretched. We have questions about the armor that is being utilized by our troops, the body armor. We have 60 people dead in the last 24 hours and eight of our troops dying in the last 24 hours and troops dying every single day. And you know what the tragedy of it is? That when our fallen heroes come to the soil of the United States we cannot even view their bodies with the Flag draped over the coffin. We are denied that opportunity to mourn them.
So this amendment is really to respond to the need that the Congress have the opportunity to address the question in hearing and to review the President's offering of a withdrawal or a success strategy, in great respect to the men and women in the United States military, in great respect to the families, in great respect to those who have lost their lives.
I ask my colleagues to consider this amendment primarily to give us an opportunity to do our constitutional duty, and that is a declaration of war is a constitutional duty by this Congress to declare war. We failed in that duty a couple of years ago, in 2002 September. But let us accept the challenge to review the process and the strategy of this administration.
I close by simply saying to the executive, I ask you to join us in a collaborative effort to have a vote for peace and to be able to conserve the resources and to honor our fallen dead and those who now serve, that we respect their families, respect, in fact, their lives and we will craft a strategy to return our heroes home. That is not in any way giving up on them. That is saving them.
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