John Cornyn: “last evening the majority leader and I had an exchange on the Senate floor with regard to a proposed amendment by our…”

“last evening the majority leader and I had an exchange on the Senate floor with regard to a proposed amendment by our side that would enhance Federal spending on border security measures and interior enforcement by $3 billion. While it is fair to say there was virtually universal support on this side of the aisle, there was some objection on the other side of the aisle, so that amendment was defeated. Then the majority leader came back with a proposal that would strip some of the language from that amendment, but nevertheless would commit $3 billion to border security. I told the majority leader that I believed it should also include a way to spend that money not just on the border but also for interior enforcement of our immigration laws. In particular, I mentioned the sad phenomenon of roughly 600,000 absconders, people who have been ordered deported and who have simply gone underground rather than obey that lawful order from a court, or people who have actually been deported and then reentered the country after they have been deported. Both of those categories of individuals are known as absconders. They are, under the Immigration and Naturalization Act, felons. I thought it was important that if we were going to be serious about enforcing our immigration laws we not just deal with the border, as important as that is, but we also deal with interior enforcement.”