America’s rich traditions have always been fundamentally shaped by the contributions of legal immigrants to our country.  However, the influx of undocumented people illegally entering our country each day has reached crisis proportions, placing tremendous burdens on our health care, education, and criminal justice systems, at the expense of American taxpayers. Congress is now at work on a comprehensive and sustainable plan to reform immigration.

Last week, the Senate began debate on the Securing America’s Borders Act (S. 2454). Among other things, the bill will provide for increases in the number of customs and border protection officers, port of entry inspectors, border patrol agents, and Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice attorneys and immigration judges. It would also provide for increased use of biometric data and other border security enhancements; and make all alien members of criminal street gangs inadmissible and deportable.

The Senate Judiciary Committee also passed a comprehensive reform bill earlier in the week that included provisions of the McCain-Kennedy immigration reform bill, creating a guest worker program that would provide an opportunity for earned legalization for 400,000 foreign workers each year. The McCain-Kennedy provisions also propose temporary legal status for the 12 million undocumented workers already in the United States, based on their ability to pass an extensive background check, pay back taxes, demonstrate work history employment, and learn English. 

As the Senate considers its own immigration legislation, it is my hope that they will retain the important enforcement provisions of the House bill, the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act (H.R. 4437), passed last December. The House plan would increase criminal penalties for alien smuggling and establish mandatory minimum sentences for alien smugglers. The bill would also stiffen penalties for illegal immigrants who re-enter the United States after having been removed and would render alien street gang members deportable, mandating immediate detention.  H.R. 4437 also contains critical provisions to physically enforce our United States border. 

I strongly believe that border security and enforcement must come first to get this crisis situation under control. But enforcement is not the final solution. We must seek longer-term reform that acknowledges the work these people are doing is important for our economy. Once the immediate crisis is addressed, we should explore provisions to allow law abiding immigrants to temporarily work in the United States.  It is important, however, that any viable guest worker program ensure appropriate oversight on where guest workers are located, who is responsible for them, when they will be leaving, and that they are not recklessly draining taxpayer funded programs.

I am also extremely wary of any proposal that allows those currently residing here illegally to be given the opportunity to stay in this country without penalty. Blanket amnesty is not a tenable solution.

The United States is a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws.  While we must remain committed to our proud tradition of welcoming immigrants, we must also take action to stem the tide of illegal immigration and protect our borders. Our laws must be obeyed and respected by those who wish to live here.  Laws exist for the safety, welfare, and civility of our nation, and we should neither take them lightly nor reward those who break them.