Making Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2010--Continued

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, as you have heard, the President came to speak to Republicans at lunch. We have talked about a lot of issues, including immigration reform and the like. Subsequent to that meeting, we were informed by e-mail that the President has made a major announcement with regard to the deployment of National Guard along the border.

This amendment, which deals with border security and will help the Federal Government live up to its responsibility for border security, is exactly the kind of response I think the President and certainly all of us who care about border security would find helpful.

Let me tell you what this amendment does. I know the Senator from New Jersey is looking through the amendment, and perhaps we can have a further consideration of the amendment when he is through.

This amendment would strengthen border security along our southwest border. While I appreciate the needs of States such as Arizona, we have a number of States that share a common border with Mexico. We have to make sure we have the human resources, tactical infrastructure, and technology employed in order to protect Americans along the border and help contain the terrible drug violence--drug war, literally--that is being fought within a short distance of American cities.

According to the El Paso Times, two young men were shot over the weekend in Juarez, one a nursing student at the University of Texas at El Paso, and another was a former student--an engineering major--from that same institution. Some news reports indicated that the two young men were returning from a Boy Scout camp when they were confronted by a shooter with an AK-47, who shot both of them multiple times, killing one of them.

I am really not sure my colleagues understand how close these killings in Juarez are to the United States. It is like Minneapolis being across the river from St. Paul or Manhattan being across the river from Brooklyn. That is the proximity of the 1,000 deaths that have occurred so far this year in Juarez, on the Mexican side of the common border with El Paso. This may not capture headlines like those of other college campuses, but these deaths represent a terrible loss to our families, our communities, and our Nation. That is a reminder of just how dangerous this war is that is going on just across our border.

It also raises the issue of what is going to be necessary in order for us to deal with our broken immigration system. I think the problem we have with our immigration system is that it is simply not credible when it comes to border security. We know that last year the Department of Homeland Security reported that some 540,000 people were detained coming across our border. We don't know how many made it across without being stopped and detained. All we can tell you is how many people actually were detained. It is commonly thought that between two and three people are missed for every one who is caught and detained. That is not anyone's definition of border security.

What we need is more resources deployed along the border. The President's 2011 budget, for example, is a flat-line budget when it comes to actually providing more boots on the ground, when it comes to adding to the Border Patrol and the various Federal agencies whose job it is to protect our country and secure the border.

The first thing my amendment does is it provides some help in the form of grants to State and local law enforcement, especially to those areas within 100 miles of the border. When the Federal Government doesn't do its job, when they fail to employ sufficient resources in order to secure the border, that burden falls on State and local law enforcement officials, particularly those within 100 miles of the border who feel the brunt of that absence of the Federal Government.

Under this $300 million grant program, these funds could be used to purchase equipment, particularly so they can have interoperable communications, hire additional investigators, detectives, and other law enforcement personnel, and they could be used to cover salaries and expenses associated with border enforcement for the State and local officials who are stepping up and doing the job the Federal Government is not doing.

Second, my amendment supports the southwest border task forces. It provides $140 million to increase personnel and funding for the so-called HIDTA Program, or the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program, mainly in southwest border States. It also provides $44.7 million to the National Guard Counterdrug Program in the southwest border States.

Third, my amendment provides additional support for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It provides $144 million for the purchase of six additional Predator B unmanned aerial vehicles and ground control stations and funding for UAV pilots and support staff. It provides $49.4 million to allow Customs and Border Protection to purchase 10 additional helicopters for border enforcement. It allocates $180 million for border surveillance equipment and vehicles. It provides $200 million to hire 500 Customs and Border Patrol officers to staff southwest border ports of entry, as well as to fund infrastructure improvements at high-volume ports of entry.

Fourth, my amendment provides additional support to the Drug Enforcement Administration. I had the opportunity the other day to have a classified briefing from the DEA which I will not go into here, but suffice it to say the Drug Enforcement Administration is fighting the good fight both here and in Mexico trying to help fight and beat the cartels. But they need more help. This amendment provides $30.4 million to hire an additional 180 intelligence analysts and support personnel for the DEA, and it would create four additional special investigative units.

It provides $72 million to hire 281 special agents and investigators at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to help investigate and track illegal firearms. One of the things you will recall we heard from President Calderon is his concern about the weapons that are purchased in the United States and then bundled and trafficked south of the border into Mexico and used by the cartels. These ATF agents need additional help, and this amendment would provide the money to hire 281 additional ATF agents in order to help prevent the flow of weapons to the cartels south of the border.

Finally, my amendment supports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It provides $375 million to fund 500 additional investigators, 400 additional intelligence analysts, and 500 additional detention and removal officers. It provides $151 million to increase detention capacity by 3,300 beds. It allocates $180 million for equipment and border enforcement technology. It provides $89 million to expand repatriation programs that return illegal aliens to their home countries.

The total pricetag for this amendment, which, as you can see, is rather detailed and breaks down into six different areas, is $2 billion. That is a lot of money. But the first responsibility of the Federal Government is to keep our Nation safe, protect it. That is the No. 1 job of the Federal Government. The Federal Government is not getting the job done now. The brave men and women who, day-in and day-out, fight the cartels, the human smugglers, people who smuggle weapons illegally, need help. They need technology, training, and equipment, so they can get the job done.

So that it is not necessary for other States to take matters into their own hands in the absence of the Federal Government living up to its responsibilities, I believe it is absolutely imperative that we spend this money for the security of our country, for the security of our border.

The good news is that, unlike a lot of spending that has happened here in recent months and years, this is not deficit spending. I am not proposing that we spend it using borrowed money; rather, that we use funds that were already appropriated by the stimulus package early in 2009 in order to pay for this amendment. This is not spending our children's inheritance.

I believe this is acting responsibly in responding to the first obligation of the Federal Government, which is to keep our people safe, to protect our borders and our national sovereignty.

I thank my colleagues who signed on as original cosponsors, including Senators Hutchison, Kyl, and McCain. I hope all of my colleagues will support this amendment.

I see both the bill manager and the Senator from New Jersey. I don't know whether he has had an opportunity to review the amendment. There is nothing particularly exotic or complex about it. It is rather straightforward and deals with a real problem.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source