Sean Reyes: “Mr. Chairman, the vast majority of border crossings are made for legitimate purposes. As we seek to secure our borders…”

“Mr. Chairman, the vast majority of border crossings are made for legitimate purposes. As we seek to secure our borders, we cannot afford to strangle them. With 22 percent of our Nation's exports and imports crossing our land borders, we need to have adequate systems in place to ensure that legitimate trade and travel are not unduly impaired. SENTRI is one such system that has been used successfully in my district of El Paso, Texas, in putting together dedicated commuter lanes. These lanes reduce waiting times at the border for prescreened, low-risk, frequent border crossers. The Filner amendment would provide needed funds to reduce the backlog of people applying to enroll in the SENTRI program. In my own district, we need some of these very same funds to replace equipment in our enrollment centers that often break down and other legitimate purposes to increase the legitimate flow of traffic back and forth between our borders. The sooner we can screen people out who pose no threat to our security, the more we will be able to concentrate our limited resources on those that may pose a threat to our national security. Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I rise this morning to urge my colleagues to join me in voting ``yes'' on the Filner amendment.”