Cord Byrd: “today, I speak on the Specter-Leahy substitute to S. 2454, the Frist border security bill. At the present time, the…”

“today, I speak on the Specter-Leahy substitute to S. 2454, the Frist border security bill. At the present time, the Frist bill contains no amnesty for illegal aliens. However, if the Specter-Leahy substitute is adopted, it would effectively attach a massive amnesty for 8 to 12 million illegal aliens and provide those illegal aliens with a path to U.S. citizenship. According to immigration experts, the pending substitute amendment-- with its guest-worker program and amnesty for undocumented aliens-- would open the gates to 30 million legal and illegal immigrants over the next decade. I oppose this amnesty proposal--absolutely and unequivocally. I urge the Senate to pass a clean border security bill like the House did-- without amnesty, without a guest-worker program, and without an increase in the annual allotment of permanent immigrant visas. For more than 4 years, the Nation has wondered how 19 terrorists managed to penetrate our border defenses to carry out the September 11 attacks. It chills the blood to think of those terrorists crossing our borders not once, but several times, in the months before the attack-- easily outsmarting our border security checks to plot their dastardly scheme. They walked among us as tourists, students, and business travelers. Three of them even stayed in the United States as illegal aliens. Today, more than 4 years later, our country remains dangerously exposed to terrorists seeking to penetrate our border defenses.…”