February 10, 2005
Strengthening Border Security
Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the underlying legislation known as the “Real ID Act,” HR 418. There is no greater responsibility placed upon myself and my colleagues than providing for a safe and secure homeland for America’s citizens. We must and can do better to secure our borders and this legislation takes necessary and reasonable steps toward that goal.

I strongly support this legislation because it will close current loopholes in our laws that terrorists have been taking advantage of to gain entry and have free reign within our borders. Every measure within the Real ID Act is present because it closes a loophole a terrorist has used previously. For example, the September 11th hijackers had within their possession at least 15 valid driver's licenses and numerous state-issued identity cards with a large variety of addresses allowing them to get on US airliners. This legislation includes a number of common sense measures aiming to establish minimum document and issuance standards for federal acceptance of driver's licenses and state-issued personal identification cards and would require applicants to provide proof they are in the country legally. Additionally, this measure would require identity documents to expire at the same time as the expiration of lawful entry status which will prevent individuals who have illegally entered or are unlawfully present in the United States from having valid identification documents.

The Real ID Act will also strengthen and clarify our process for granting immigrants asylum within our borders. While America has always been and always will be a safe harbor for those being persecuted by tyrannical governments, we must be vigilant to ensure those individuals are not taking advantage of America’s generosity and good will. Our first responsibility is to protect the American people and we cannot put on blinders to expect that everyone who seeks asylum does so in good faith. This legislation closes one of the most egregious loopholes that currently exists - the Real ID Act would prevent liberal judges from granting asylum to aliens on the basis that their governments believe they are terrorists. It is only reasonable that our laws do not force our country to provide safe harbor to those individuals that are being sought out by their governments due to their terrorist ties.

I have given just a few examples of why this legislation is so important to further our ability to strengthen our border security and increase our ability to remove illegal aliens from our country. There are numerous other provisions within this bill that work toward those goals as well. I strongly encourage my colleagues to join me today in voting in support of this important border security legislation because it will help defend our homeland.