Angie Craig: “this afternoon the Judiciary Committee's Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee, on which I serve, held an…”

“this afternoon the Judiciary Committee's Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee, on which I serve, held an important hearing on immigration and guest worker reform. The hearing focused on broad issues related to temporary guest worker, and especially on the framework for reform proposed recently by the President of the United States. Our chairman, the Senator from Georgia, Mr. Chambliss, also welcomed statements from several Senators who have introduced bills in this area. Before this President came into office, the Federal Government led the way as our Nation remained in denial, ignoring both the rapidly growing number of undocumented persons in this country and the increasing dependence of critical sectors of our economy on undocumented workers. Some would say, with justification, that the Nation actually spent the last four decades looking the other way. Then, a real wake-up call came on September 11, 2001, on the need to manage our borders effectively, and of the failure to do so for many years before. In the last 22 years, we have made progress. President Bush has demonstrated tireless leadership on and since September 11. The new Department of Homeland Security has been established to bring rationality to our border, immigration, and homeland security efforts. With the hard work of the administration, our men and women in uniform, and the Congress, our borders are more secure and our homeland is safer.”