John McCain

We, in Arizona, trust them because they are the elected law enforcement officials that are there dealing with these issues every single day.

They are absolutely, totally, factually correct. They are there, and everybody knows they are there.

I think the security of our citizens is our first and foremost obligation.

Last week, we heard testimony that border security cannot be achieved in isolation from our immigration system of laws and that hundreds of thousands of people will continue to risk their lives to illegally cross our borders unless and…

The level of violence is something--one of the reasons, frankly, is because the drug cartels intimidate the media in Mexico as well.

And I believe that number continues to go up, the number of bodies we find in the desert of individuals, either because the coyotes have abandoned them or for various reasons.

Senator John McCain and Senator Jon Kyl have the solution to secure the border so we can get to this point that we all want to get to.

There is no logic associated with that.

I do not think there is any doubt that there have been improvements in border security or a dramatic increase in violence on the other side of the border.

I think the Committee is very interested in your views on the status of our control of the border closest to you right now, on what we can do to improve that control, and on how much the terrible drug-related violence in Mexico has spilled…

Senator McCain, I do want to acknowledge that you gave me my first education on the border...

We cannot force our citizens to live under those kinds of conditions.

This level of violence is new to Agua Prieta.

A billion dollars we spent for 53 miles----

Now they come across as a result of the drug cartels and human smugglers, in large groups, in a very highly organized way.

I think nobody would disagree that there are hundreds of thousands of people coming across the border illegally every year, and that is broadly unacceptable.

I do not know how the Administration can say that we still have significant issues and yet remove the National Guard.

Ten years ago, we could not have anticipated the headlines that routinely appear in newspapers today.

I think it would be extraordinarily expensive to seal the borders, as was suggested here, and total control is an awfully high bar to achieve.

And, as usual, no one was held responsible.

If you do not like the statistics, which shows that operational control is 44 percent of the Southern Border and then only 15 percent is airtight, then change the definition.

We have a dead Border Patrol Agent. We have a situation which at least for a period of time was out of control.

I have failed to see one yet, nor have those residents of my State.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the witnesses for their service.

We are very appreciative of Senators Lieberman and McCain's leadership and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in their work to reallocate the D Block for public safety use.