Carlos Moorhead: “I urge my colleagues to support the Hunter-Moorhead-Cunningham amendment authorizing the addition of 6,000 new Border…”

“I urge my colleagues to support the Hunter-Moorhead-Cunningham amendment authorizing the addition of 6,000 new Border Patrol agents over a 5-year period. In 1986, when Congress adopted my amendment to the Immigration Reform and Control Act authorizing a 50-percent increase in our border strength, our Border Patrol force included a total of 3,238 agents. Today, our current on line force has reached 4,092, only 854 more agents than we had on board 8 years ago. Congress cannot continue to refuse to give our Border Patrol the manpower and resources they need to tighten our wide open borders. This inaction by Congress is resulting in a multibillion dollar price tag for health care, education and other benefits granted to illegal immigrants. It is the responsibility of the Congress to enforce the immigration laws of our country, and the Border Patrol is the very first line of defense against controlling illegal immigration and drug smuggling. For decades we have heard assertions from special interest groups that the border is unenforceable. The effectiveness of Operation Blockade in the El Paso sector proves, of course, that this is nonsense. In El Paso, apprehensions of illegal immigrants have gone down by 81 percent and crime has been reduced by 46 percent. This successful blockade demonstrates the beneficial effects of an adequate number of Border Patrol agents.”