| McALLEN, June 20 - Members of the Texas Border Coalition
say they are saddened and disappointed to learn U.S. Sen. John Cornyn’s border
security amendment to the Senate immigration reform bill has been tabled.
“Hearing the announcement, you feel like the rug is being pulled from under
you. For us border communities, it is a big blow,” said San Juan Mayor San
Juanita Sanchez.
Sanchez and other border leaders learned of the amendment’s demise during the
TBC’s quarterly meeting at the McAllen Convention Center on Thursday. Ana Maria
Garcia, Cornyn’s district director in the Rio Grande Valley, interrupted
proceedings to break the news. She had learned that the amendment had been
tabled via a text from Cornyn’s Washington, D.C. office.
The Senate vote to table the amendment was 54 to 43.
Garcia said that with the amendment being tabled, there would be less funding
for local law enforcement, less Customs and Border Protection officers, less
investment in infrastructure at land ports of entry, and fewer public-private
partnerships to reduce port of entry wait times.
“Everything, for ports of entry, was just washed out,” Garcia said at the TBC
meeting. “We were not given the ability for an up or down vote. It was tabled.
As far as what is next, we are not certain. I do not believe we saw this
coming.”
Under Cornyn’s amendment to S.744, the Department of Homeland Security and
others would have to certify that certain “triggers” are met before undocumented
immigrants can start to become legal residents. There would have to be 100
percent situational awareness, with monitoring capability at every segment of
the southern border. That would have been difficult because in the Big Bend
area, for example, Border Patrol’s radios do not work. There would also have to
be operational control, which Cornyn defined as at least a 90 percent
apprehension rate along the southern border. There would also have to be a
biometric exit system at all air and sea ports, and a nationwide E-Verify
system.
What the TBC particularly liked about the Cornyn amendment was a provision
that $1 billion per year be spent over six years for land port of entry
infrastructure improvements and personnel. TBC members also liked the fact that
CBP officers would have been increased by 10,000 over five years. The group also
supported Cornyn’s efforts to get DHS to enter into public-private partnerships
to reduce port of entry wait times.
Just as Cornyn’s amendment was being tabled, details started to emerge of
another Republican amendment to the Senate immigration reform bill that was
acceptable to the so-called Gang of Eight U.S. senators. The amendment by U.S.
Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee and U.S. Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota would
almost double the current number of Border Patrol agents to 40,000 and require
completion of 700 miles of border fencing. This would have to happen before the
11 million or so undocumented immigrants in the U.S. could start to become
legalized. The cost of the additional Border Patrol agents would cost about $30
billion. “It is almost overkill,” said Corker.
Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights,
denounced the Corker-Hoeven amendment. “This is an outrageous plan that was
struck without consulting with people who live and work on the border. It only
adds to a system that we all agree is dysfunctional and accountable to the
people,” said Garcia, who is currently on a caravan across Texas to boost
support for comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship.
“The most obscene element of the plan is that it would create a militarized
border between allied nations where there is no military conflict. We remind the
senators that more than six million people live on the U.S. side of the border
and this plan puts their rights, lives and prosperity at risk,” Garcia added.
TBC members, meanwhile, say they are very disappointed Cornyn’s amendment was
tabled.
“It is very sad news that we could not garner any more support for the
amendment,” said Adan Farias, the incoming chairman of the TBC and mayor pro-tem
of Pharr. “I was concerned the amendment was doomed to failure. There was too
much in the mix.”
Monica Weisberg-Stewart, chair of the TBC’s immigration and border security
committee, said the demise of Cornyn’s amendment showed just how out of touch
Washington, D.C., is with the southern border. She said she is not disappointed
with Cornyn’s efforts. “He was fighting for our state.” Rather, she said, she
was disappointed that Congress fails to understand the true needs of the
country.
“Constantly, Washington is missing the boat on comprehending the true needs
of the border. They seem to make policy on sound bites and what people in
mid-America think instead of truly comprehending the real needs,”
Weisberg-Stewart said.
“Empirical data shows the real needs are at our ports of entry. This is where
trade, travel and security really happen. Remember 9/11? Those terrorists
entered our country through our ports of entry. They did not swim the Rio
Grande.”
Weisberg-Stewart pointed to a General Accounting Office report which shows
CBP is 6,000 short in manpower and $6 billion short in infrastructure. Asked
what she thought of a doubling of Border Patrol agents, Weisberg-Stewart said
the present level, 21,000, was sufficient but that the agents need more
technological help.
“An additional 20,000 Border Patrol agents? It is like putting more money
into fencing, it is ridiculous,” Weisberg-Stewart said. “You do things more
strategically. We are not against giving more money to Border Patrol but it
should be based on what the needs are, not just throwing out figures. They are
spending money in the wrong places just for show. We have the right amount of
Border Patrol agents but they need more technology.”
Mayor Sanchez of San Juan wondered whether, with hindsight, it might have
been better had Cornyn pushed his way to the front of the debate on immigration
reform and border security earlier, perhaps by becoming a member of the Gang of
Eight.
“Maybe he could have balanced things out and got a few more things for us,”
Sanchez said. “The fact that his amendment has been shot down is very
disappointing. But, we are resilient on the border. Our people are resilient, so
we continue to unite. It is forcing us to unite. The tabling of the amendment
speaks to the need for the Texas Border Coalition to grow.” |
Texas Border Coalition
saddened to see Cornyn's border security amendment die
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