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2005 Ron Paul Chapter 127
Not linked on Ron Paul’s Congressional website.
Congressional Record [.PDF]
Border Protection Antiterrorism, And Illegal Immigration Control Act Of 2005
16 December 2005
SPEECH OF
HON. RON PAUL
OF TEXAS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Friday, December 16, 2005
The House in Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union had under
consideration the bill (H.R. 4437) to amend
the Immigration and Nationality Act to
strengthen enforcement of the immigration
laws, to enhance border security, and for
other purposes:
2005 Ron Paul 127:1
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Chairman, I rise with serious concerns over this legislation, which although
it does address some illegal immigration problems
is woefully weak on real substance. I
fear that should this bill become law as is, six
months or even a year down the road we will
see no substantial improvement on the critical
issue of deporting illegal aliens and protecting
our borders.
2005 Ron Paul 127:2
Some measures in the bill sound good, but are in effect superfluous. Do we need new
legislation requiring the Department of Homeland
Security to achieve “operational control of
the borders”? Shouldn’t the federal government
already have “operational control of the
borders”?
2005 Ron Paul 127:3
Here is a road map for real immigration reform. First we need better enforcement of the
laws we’ve got — which plainly call for illegal
immigrants to be arrested and deported and
for our borders to be secure. These things are
already law, but the executive branch over the
past decades has failed to enforce them. Congress
can pass any law it wants, but unless
federal agencies enforce those laws they are
meaningless.
2005 Ron Paul 127:4
Second we need to eliminate the two main magnets attracting illegal immigrants to illegally
enter the country, the welfare magnet
and the citizenship magnet. Failure to address
these in an immigration bill raises questions
about achieving real results. That is why I introduced
three amendments to this bill, in the
hopes that we can finally do something about
the problem of illegal immigration. I introduced
an amendment to end so-called “birth-right
citizenship,” whereby anyone born on U.S. soil
is automatically an American citizen. I introduced
an amendment to end the practice of
providing U.S. Social Security payments to
non-U.S. citizens. And finally I introduced an
amendment to prohibit illegal aliens from receiving
food stamps, student loans, or other
federally-provided assistance. Unfortunately,
none of my amendments were even allowed
to reach the Floor for a vote.
2005 Ron Paul 127:5
There are some elements of this new bill to be applauded. Measures to require detention
of and expedited removal of aliens, for example,
are a good step. Also to be applauded is
the requirement for an additional 250 inspectors
at U.S. ports of entry each year from
2007 through 2010, although this is unfortunately
subject to the availability of funds. But
overall this bill is a weak substitute for real immigration
and border reform. As the Federation
for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)
says, H.R. 4437 “treats some of the symptoms,
it does not, in fact, do enough to actually
cure the illness.”
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