Cord Byrd: “I support cloture on H.R. 6061, the Secure Fence Act. The sooner the Congress passes this bill, the sooner the Congress…”

“I support cloture on H.R. 6061, the Secure Fence Act. The sooner the Congress passes this bill, the sooner the Congress can put aside the misguided amnesty legislation passed by the Senate earlier this year. The American people have listened and rejected the call to offer U.S. citizenship to illegal aliens. They have said NO to amnesty! Hallelujah! Comprehensive immigration reform is a euphemism for amnesty, and I oppose it absolutely and unequivocally. I voted against the amnesty bill passed by the Senate, and I will continue to vote against amnesty as long as I am in the Senate. I have seen how amnesties encourage illegal immigration, with the amnesties of the 1980s and 1990s corresponding with an unprecedented rise in the population of unlawful aliens. I have seen how amnesties open the border to terrorists, with the perpetrators of terrorist plots against our country taking advantage of amnesties to circumvent the regular border and immigration checks. I have seen how amnesties afford special rules to some immigrants. Amnesty undermines that great and egalitarian American promise that the rules will be applied equally and fairly to everyone. We are a nation of immigrants to be sure, but that does not mean that we are obligated to give away U.S. citizenship. According to immigration experts, until 1986, the Congress never granted amnesty to any generation of immigrants.”