Patrick Leahy: “The Isakson amendment is designed to tear apart the interwoven fabric of a bill that many of us have worked so hard in a…”

“The Isakson amendment is designed to tear apart the interwoven fabric of a bill that many of us have worked so hard in a bipartisan manner to pass in the Senate. The Isakson amendment asserts that there can be no guest worker program and no legalization path for undocumented immigrants currently in the United States until security at the borders is guaranteed. Sounds good, until you realize that comprehensive immigration reform consists of several interrelated steps, each depending on the rest in order to maximize the prospects of the overall plan to get the job done. This amendment is a prescription for failure, by ripping a comprehensive plan apart. That is why this amendment has been described as a ``poison pill'' that would undermine the bipartisan bill before the Senate. The Senate recently passed the Defense supplemental appropriations bill, a bill that included nearly $2 billion for border security. It seems that what Senator Isakson wants the Senate to do is to wait until all of those funds are expended, and then assess our security. Many of us have been fighting for years to improve border security by targeting more resources for technology on the borders and by adding additional Border Patrol agents. The Bush administration repeatedly failed to fulfill Congress's directives in recent years, but I was pleased to hear the President say last night that he now supports increasing the number of Border Patrol agents by 6,000.…”