Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005

BORDER PROTECTION, ANTITERRORISM, AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CONTROL ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - December 15, 2005)

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Mr. BASS. Mr. Chairman, I thank my friend from California for yielding me time.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this bill. Nothing is more important than good border security for our national security. Nothing is more important than enforcing the law of the land. And we cannot go on indefinitely with immigration laws that nobody pays any attention to. Yes, indeed, this is a bill that is courageous. It is bold. Certainly, it is controversial. But it is a step in the right direction, and it moves this issue forward.

What I am most particularly interested in is the committee's acceptance of a provision that Congressman Norwood and I brought to the first responders bill that would allow States to use homeland security funds, State police, local police and so forth, to round up illegal immigrants and deliver them to the Feds. In New Hampshire, we spent over $650,000 in State police funds last year doing Federal duties and $200,000 from the Marine Patrol on the sea coast. I think this is a provision that adds flexibility to a bill that needs to be passed in this Congress.

Mr. Chairman, my constituents and constituents all over the country are crying out for a just law to end this process of having undocumented illegal aliens working and flaunting the law.

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