Guest Column
What We NEED, Is NOT What We Are Getting! Take Action!
- Action Alert from National Council of la Raza
- Support Real Comprehensive Immigration Reform
- What is currently happening in the House of Representatives related to immigration?
The House Homeland Security Committee passed, by voice vote, the "Border Security and Terrorism Prevention Act" (H.R. 4312) on Thursday, November 17. The bill has appreciably worsened to such an extent through amendment that original cosponsor Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) is purportedly withdrawing her name from the bill.
What would this bill do?
H.R. 4312 would require mandatory detention of nearly all persons who enter the U.S. without a visa for the duration of their immigration case. The vast majority of those detained would be from Latin American countries. They would be denied the opportunity to appear before a judge and receive an individualized bond hearing based on the merits of their case.
H.R. 4312 would expand expedited removal to all areas within 100 miles of the border. All persons found entering the U.S. without documents and who have been in the U.S. for less than 14 days would be denied due process and subjected to expedited removal.
H.R. 4312 would increase detention bed space and increase the number of Border Patrol agents. Congress has repeatedly increased detention space and the Border Patrol, yet the flow of undocumented immigrants has not abated. This provision is ineffective and a waste of valuable resources and tax dollars.
H.R. 4312 would militarize the border. The Department of Defense must develop a plan to allow the Border Patrol to more fully take advantage of its resources. These resources include unmanned aerial vehicles, radar, surveillance equipment, and assistance in conducting surveillance activities.
Currently, border enforcement alone is not effective. The U.S. has thrown money at enforcement before and it has not worked. From FY 1993 through FY 2004, the number of Border Patrol officers tripled from 3,965 to 10,835 agents, and our nation quintupled its spending on border enforcement from $740 million to $3.8 billion per year. Yet in the same period, the number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. doubled from 4.5 million to 9.3 million.
Comprehensive immigration reform is necessary to realistically solve our immigration problems. For more information on this bill, please see the two links below:
Information and press release from Chairman Peter King (R-NY): http://hsc.house.gov
Detailed summary of markup: http://homeland.house.gov/files/HR4312_Action.pdf
What’s next?
We expect that the House Judiciary Committee will consider immigration over the next few weeks. Chairman Sensenbrenner may introduce a new bill or he may attach new provisions to the Homeland Security Committee bill. We expect that the Judiciary Committee’s bill will not be comprehensive and that it will contain more harsh enforcement measures. Immigration reform is expected on the House floor the week of December 12.
What can you do?
Please contact your Congressperson NOW to urge him or her to take up a comprehensive immigration reform bill that will solve our broken immigration system!
National Council of La Raza
1126 16th Street, NW
Washington,
DC 20036
202-785-1670 Phone
202-776-1792 Fax
http://www.nclr.org/
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