Bob Filner: “My amendment, Mr. Chairman, refers to the southern border of the United States. We know the tragedies that had afflicted…”

“My amendment, Mr. Chairman, refers to the southern border of the United States. We know the tragedies that had afflicted this country of September 11, especially on New York City; and arguments have been made on this floor very eloquently this afternoon about the need for help for New York City. The ripple effect of those attacks affected our whole Nation. And similar arguments can be made for other sectors of our country, other sectors of our economy. For example, the increased security that was called for after September 11 on our borders required what we call a level-one alert. Level-one alert means that every individual, every vehicle is going to be stopped, inspected, trunk opened up, questions asked, information entered into a computer, questions asked again. That process of level-one alert takes time. And what has occurred at the southern border is because of the time that is required for this increased security, which everybody supports and everybody wants, is that the waiting period for legal people to cross the border from Mexico into the United States has increased to an hour, 2 hours, 4 hours, sometimes 8 hours at a time. That waiting time for people to cross the border legally has devastated the economies of communities along the border. I represent San Diego, California, which has the busiest border crossing between any two countries in the world.…”