Providing the resources to protect America's borders
from terrorists, while keeping them open for important
cross-border visitation and commerce, is one of my highest
priorities. As a member, since 1994, of the Judiciary Subcommittee
on Immigration, and as chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on
Terrorism and Homeland Security, I have sponsored many of the
amendments and bills that have significantly enhanced security at
the border, such as the Kyl amendment to increase the Border
Patrol from 4,000 agents to 10,000 agents. Another of my
amendments has resulted in over $200 million in funding for the
Customs Service for more inspectors and high-technology equipment
to detect terrorists and weapons of mass destruction along the
southwestern border of the United States.
Before the September 11 attacks, some Americans
wanted little control of our borders, nor did they want important
information provided about the foreign visitors and immigrants we
welcome to the United States. The terrible events of that day
brought back into clear focus the need to protect our great nation
from terrorists and the evil they perpetrate. Most now see the
need for reform. I also believe that foreign nationals who want to
visit or immigrate to America will be supportive of policies that
strengthen our borders, to keep terrorists from entering or
staying in the United States.
Recently, Senator John McCain and I brought the new
Undersecretary for Border and Transportation Security, Asa
Hutchinson, to the Arizona border. The purpose of the trip was to
impress upon him the effects of illegal immigration on our border
communities and our state, and to share with him the overwhelming
need for more equipment and personnel at the border to prevent
terrorists from entering the country. After Undersecretary
Hutchinson appeared before the Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism
in Washington, D.C. about the need for infrastructure and
technology improvements at the border, we left the next day for
Arizona.
There, we showed him most of the Arizona border. We
toured the overcrowded, difficult to navigate San Luis
port-of-entry; the vast Tohono O'odham Nation lands, heavily
traversed by illegal immigrants and smugglers; Park Service land
also heavily traversed by illegal immigrants and drug smugglers;
the always-busy Nogales Border Patrol station; and, the expansive
property of a local Arizona cattle rancher whose land has been
overrun by illegal immigrants. At the end of the trip, Secretary
Hutchinson said he understood, more than ever before, the
overwhelming need for better control of our borders. He has
promised to help in finding the necessary facilities, policies,
and activities in Arizona.
Recent classified briefings I've received, and
public information presented quite capably by Arizona constituents
on my recent border trip, continue to underscore the importance of
finding ways to keep terrorists from entering the country. Why?
Terrorists are looking for ways to come into the United States
from Mexico. More than one local and federal border
law-enforcement jurisdiction in Arizona has reported to me
retrieval of information or writings from apprehensions or arrests
in Arizona indicating that terrorists are looking for ways to use
Mexico as an entry route.
After September 11, I worked with a bipartisan group
of Senators to pass the Border Security and Enhanced Visa Entry
Reform Act (P.L. 107-173), landmark legislation aimed at
overhauling our nation's visa-processing and border policies in
order to prevent the entry of terrorists into the United States.
The act, a product of my work with Senators Feinstein, Kennedy,
and Brownback, is now law. It is helping to make our borders more
secure and to give federal law-enforcement and intelligence
officials better access to information about those who would harm
our nation and its people.
The Border Security Act authorizes an increase of
1,000 new Immigration and Naturalization Service inspections
personnel, and a $150 million increase in INS computer equipment
and other supplies and infrastructure to better target illegal
traffic, while facilitating legitimate cross-border commerce. The
law also accelerates implementation of a system to better track
visa applicants who should not be allowed to come here, and to
find such individuals who are already here. Under this law, all
foreign travel documents, including passports, must include a
biometric feature that can be read by officials at all of our
nation's ports-of-entry by 2004. The law requires a federal
integrated computer system to allow the sharing of information
about potential terrorists by the FBI and other U.S. intelligence
sources. The system will be readily available to the State
Department and the INS as they step up their efforts to identify
individuals who plot against the United States. Finally, P.L.
107-173 requires new, strict oversight of our nation's foreign
student visa system, which until now has been an easy system for
terrorists to exploit in order to gain entry into the U.S.
Appropriating the funding to implement this
important border-security and visa-reform law is key to defending
our homeland effectively. Congress, at the request of the
President, has also created the new cabinet-level Department of
Homeland Security, where all appropriate agencies have been
consolidated. Such efforts, I hope, will protect our homeland by
creating a seamless communication among the agencies responsible
for fighting terrorism. I look forward to working with other
Senators and Representative to ensure a bill passes the Congress
that will make the new department achieve a consolidation that
serves our nation well. In fact, the border-security and
visa-reform law facilitates a smoother transition to the new
homeland department.
When we think of our U.S. border priorities, we
appropriately emphasize terrorism and the safety of the United
States and its residents. We also concentrate, appropriately, on
how both legal and illegal immigration affect our communities, and
even how immigration policies affect the immigrant himself.
Clearly, there can be great economic benefits for the United
States when we allow foreign visitors to the United States.
Policies that allow immigrants to work here and earn a decent
wage, while filling a labor need here, benefit both the immigrant
and the American economy. We also benefit from immigration
policies that allow immediate families to be reunited and that
allow individuals with special talents or skills to live here and
contribute to our society.
Illegal immigration, however, does not benefit the
United States. Besides the detrimental effect it has on the safety
of our communities, its negative fiscal effects also warrant the
U.S. government's attention and action. Federal mandates imposed
on states, local governments, and hospitals to provide emergency
care to an undocumented alien or process a criminal illegal
immigrant through a local criminal justice system are exacting
tremendous cumulative costs on taxpayers in such jurisdictions.
Every tax dollar spent on emergency care or criminal processing
for an illegal immigrant has to be paid for by the affected
hospital itself or by the taxpayers in that jurisdiction.
The situation confronts Arizonans every day. An
Arizona mother about to deliver may encounter clogged emergency
rooms and longer wait times than she otherwise would because of
the tremendous burdens imposed by illegal aliens receiving
federally-mandated emergency care. According to a recently
released study that I sought funding for in Congress, and that was
completed in concert with the U.S.-Mexico Border Counties
Coalition, the uncompensated cost to Arizona hospitals and the
state for providing federally mandated health care to illegal
immigrants is well over $100 million per year, and could be as
much as $200 million a year.
The citizens of four southwestern border states pay
a disproportionate share of these expenses, which should be borne
in total by the federal government. It is the responsibility of
the federal government to control illegal immigration. When it
does not, states that happen to be in the path of most illegal
immigration should not be left picking up the tab. The federal
government is now helping to pay part of the cost, but it isn't
helping enough. In 1996, for example, I successfully attached
amendments to the 1996 Immigration Reform Act that required that
states, localities, and hospitals be reimbursed by the federal
government for the cost of providing provide emergency medical
treatment to illegal immigrants and the costs associated with
providing emergency medical transport to illegal aliens injured
while attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
For five years, Congress reimbursed the highest
illegal immigration states $25 million a year, but funding for
this program ended in 2001. Joined by a bipartisan group of
border-state Senators, I have introduced legislation to provide an
estimated $1.4 billion per year reimbursement to the affected
hospitals and other providers in these states. I continue to
educate Members of Congress about the overwhelming costs
associated with providing this federally-mandated emergency
treatment to illegal immigrants; I am hopeful that my bill will be
funded and states like Arizona will gain some needed
relief.
In addition to addressing health-care costs, I asked
Congress to authorize a study to ascertain the criminal justice
costs to localities of illegal aliens. This 2001 study found that,
in 28 southwestern border counties of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona,
and California, the cost of processing through local court systems
illegal immigrants who commit crimes is $125 million annually. In
this year's appropriations bill, we were able to secure $50
million for the "Southwestern Border Initiative," to reimburse
localities for the costs of processing drug and other cases that
have been referred, or could have been referred, to local U.S.
Attorneys offices. Additionally, I was able to secure $7 million
in FY 2001 for southern Arizona counties for processing criminal
illegal immigrants, but it made only a small dent in reimbursing
the border counties for the substantial expenses they
incurred.
We need a more commonsense approach to dealing with
costs and problems of illegal immigration. While we must act to
help those in need, the needs of American citizens and taxpayers
must also be considered.
As chairman of the Senate
Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security,
and a member of the Subcommittee on Immigration, I welcome your
thoughts and suggestions about ways to better control our nation's
borders and to improve our immigration policies.
