News and Views

DEMOCRATS UNDERMINE BORDER SECURITY, VOTE AGAINST FUNDING FOR FENCE

WASHINGTON – House Democrats voted down legislation offered by Congressman Jerry Lewis Friday to require full funding for 854 miles of double fencing and other security measures that were mandated in the Secure Fence Act passed by Congress last year. Lewis criticized the vote as undermining efforts to provide real security to the nation’s Southern border.

            “Before we can consider so-called immigration reform, we must get our priorities straight and secure our borders,” said Lewis, the senior Republican on the House Appropriations Committee. “Two years ago, we ended the flawed practice of ‘catch and release.’ In the past year, our increased enforcement has caused a 50 percent reduction in the number of illegal immigrants caught crossing the border. Let’s take the next step this year and ensure border security is more than just a political slogan.”

            Lewis offered a motion to require that the Fiscal Year 2008 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations bill include funding for the fencing and other security measures approved in the Secure Fence Act. To date, just 13.5 miles of the fence have been built, and the bill as written by Democrats would tie up nearly $1 billion in funding by requiring unnecessary environmental reviews and other bureaucratic reports, Lewis said.

            His motion was defeated on a party-line vote, with just 11 Democrats voting to fully fund the fence. Lewis opposed the overall Department of Homeland Security bill because it spends $2.1 billion more than requested by President Bush – a pattern of over-spending that will inevitably lead to increased taxes, Lewis said.

            “It’s astonishing to me that this bill spends $2.1 billion more than the President says we need for these programs, and yet the Democrats refuse to guarantee we will provide the border security improvements Congress mandated last year,” Lewis said.

            The value of the border fence has been shown by the changes brought by the fence constructed some years ago in the San Diego area, Lewis said. Illegal immigration apprehensions in the fenced region dropped from 202,000 in 1992 to about 9,000 in 2004. Crime in San Diego dropped by 56 percent, and the number of vehicles coming illegally across the border – a method used by drug smugglers - fell from as many as 10 per day to just four in all of 2004.

            Lewis said he will continue to join other Republicans in the California congressional delegation in pushing for border security improvements as a pre-requisite to any discussion of immigration reform.

            “We must increase our enforcement level on the border, and this requires not only more Border Patrol agents, but also the equipment and support to help them do the job,” Lewis said.  “This was a top priority for me as Appropriations Committee chairman, and we will insist that it be a No. 1 priority for Congress in the coming years.”

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