Following this review, which included seven hearings on various aspects of the issue, we introduced the Comprehensive Enforcement and Immigration Reform Act of 2005 to dramatically strengthen enforcement, bolster border security, and comprehensively reform our immigration laws. This legislation is based on common sense principles that I think all should agree on.
Our nation’s immigration and border security system leaves our borders unprotected and threatens our national security. It makes a mockery of the rule of law. This system unfortunately has suffered from years of neglect. But in a post-9/11 world we simply cannot tolerate this situation any longer. Almost four years from that terrible date, we were reminded just last month - with the attacks in London - that terrorism is a real and tangible threat to the free world.
National security demands a comprehensive solution to our broken immigration system. That means both stronger enforcement and reasonable reform of our immigration laws.
No discussion of comprehensive immigration reform, however, is possible without a clear commitment to and a substantial escalation of our efforts to enforce the law. We simply have not devoted the funds, the resources, and the manpower necessary to enforce our immigration laws and protect our borders.
I believe that most of the people who come to this country outside of our laws are coming here for the same reason they have always come here: to find work and the ability to support their families. But every day smugglers also exploit our porous border, and there is increasing evidence that international terrorists are also looking for ways to use those same avenues of entry into the country.
Our bill therefore authorizes sufficient resources to gain control of the border, including 10,000 Border Patrol Agents and 1,250 new Customs and Border Protection Officers. It also authorizes $5 billion over five years for accompanying technology, such as cameras and sensors, and doubles the number of detention beds to ensure that illegal aliens who are apprehended are not released into the United States.
Another key component of the Cornyn-Kyl bill addresses employer accountability. Since 1996, the government has been testing an electronic verification system that allows employers to authoritatively determine whether a worker is in fact authorized to work in the United States. Despite the success of that program, it has not been expanded to all employers, and today the vast majority of employers are required to review some combination of 29 different documents in a frustrating attempt to determine whether they are complying with the law.
This legislation will remedy that deficiency and provide employers with a reliable means to document that a worker is authorized to work in the United States. But we will also insist that employers, once we give them the tools they need, follow the law and ensure they document that employees are authorized to work in the United States.
But enforcement alone, without improving the legal avenues for immigration, will only make border security more difficult and risk disruption to our growing economy. The Cornyn-Kyl bill creates a new temporary worker program, which can best be characterized as a work-and-return program, not a work-and-stay program. Out of the estimated 10 to 12 million people who have come to this country illegally, about six million are in the workforce. Our economy needs foreign workers who can fill positions where there are no willing U.S. workers.
What distinguishes our temporary worker program is that it encourages workers to return home to their countries with the skills and savings they have acquired in the U.S. Through a combination of financial incentives for the workers and the cooperation of the workers’ home countries, we will return to a model of circular migration which benefits both the United States and other countries. In the long run, we must address the economic disparities that force migrant workers to come to the U.S. to find jobs and prevent those working here from returning home.
There cannot be any real reform until we regain credibility with the American public and demonstrate a willingness and ability to enforce our immigration laws and protect our borders. But we must also improve the legal avenues for immigration so that there is a means for foreign workers - who are no threat to the U.S. and are only coming to the U.S. to fill jobs that no U.S. workers are willing to perform – to enter the country through the normal process. Enforcement and reform together will allow our Border Patrol and other enforcement agents to focus on smuggling and on identifying terrorists, who we know will look for any way to exploit our immigration system.
The Cornyn-Kyl bill contains concrete enforcement provisions, including additional resources and legal authorities. And it provides real reform without rewarding illegal behavior or establishing easier processes for those who cut in line. This is a comprehensive bill and is a workable solution to fix a broken system.