Joe Cunningham: “I come from a border area, San Diego, California; and we have thousands come across our border, not just from Mexico…”

“I come from a border area, San Diego, California; and we have thousands come across our border, not just from Mexico, from other places as well. I used to think this was a good amendment, until you start thinking about it. You just do not send a Marine or someone in the Army to the border. You have to provide bivouacs, food, transportation, hospitals, training; and by the time you look at the cost, we are much better off to put additional money into trained Border Patrol, in my opinion. There is a need for border security. That is real, and that is why my friends, I am sure out of frustration, are offering this amendment, and it is a good-intentioned amendment. But when you take a look at what it actually does, with our military so thin today and so drawn out, it would be disastrous, I think, for our men and women in the service itself. I have heard people say that people coming across the border illegally do not have rights. They do. And you need people that are trained in that manner to know what those rights are, to be able to say ``alto'' when necessary, and to understand the people that are coming across.”