Jon L. Christensen: “I too want to commend Chairman King and Ranking Member Thompson for their work on legislation which passed on a voice…”

“I too want to commend Chairman King and Ranking Member Thompson for their work on legislation which passed on a voice vote out of our Homeland Security Committee and which is included in this bill before us today. Mr. Chairman, securing our Nation's air, land, and sea borders is a difficult, yet critical, task. While H.R. 4437 takes some good steps in addressing this problem, such as authorizing more Border Patrol agents and creating a new Border Patrol unit in my district, it also includes a number of harsh and contentious provisions which makes it impossible for it to receive the same kind of bipartisan support that was achieved in the Homeland Security Committee. So while I am pleased that the passage of this bill would mean that over 175 miles of unprotected and open borders in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a gateway of choice for smugglers into the United States, would finally receive protection from a newly established Border Patrol unit, I remain deeply concerned that H.R. 4437 would be excessively harmful to immigrants, families, businesses, and communities. It was a much better bill when it left out of the Homeland Security Committee. And I would hope that as we continue the process of moving this bill through Congress, we would find a way to develop a consensus on the final form that the legislation would take, which would protect our borders without doing harm to immigrants and Americans of all backgrounds.”