Border Security & Immigration Modernization Act

This paper explores and serves as a reaction to The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013. This legislation regarding immigration and border security has been introduced to and passed by the U.S. Senate in the year 2013. The issue of securing the United States’ borders and combating the influx of illegal immigration is no easy task.

However, there are bills being presented by the country’s legislators that severely undermine and cripple these efforts. Conversely there are bills being introduced to Congress that aim to not only hinder illegal immigration, but to also secure our nation’s borders.

Unfortunately these bills have little support or recognition in the media and other public avenues. This paper will examine the “Gang of Eight” 2013 comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) bill in detail and offer feedback as to the positive or negative impacts of the bills.

Homeland Security Current Event Reaction Paper: Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013. The United States of America is a cultural melting pot; and is a country that was founded and built by immigrants from all over the world.

However, the problem of unsecure borders and illegal immigration has spiraled out of control. This is a problem that has been building for some time in this country and has now risen to the point of being not only a tremendous security risk for our nation; but it is bleeding the United States economy and negatively impacting hard- working, law abiding U.S. Citizens. The misappropriation of funds that are used to aid illegal aliens could be better utilized in Homeland Security efforts.

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President Obama’s administration has placed an overwhelming emphasis on offering “blanket amnesty,” which does not aid in a solution to the issues at hand.

The piece of legislation that will be discussed is the bill sponsored by President Obama and the “Gang of Eight,” a group of eight senators (Bennet, Durbin, Flake, Graham, McCain, Menendez, Rubio, and Schumer). This is a very controversial bill called Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 (S. 744).

This bill was introduced on April 16, 2013 and passed by the U.S. Senate on June 27, 2013. The bill has yet to be passed by the House of Representative or signed by the President; and has gained much media attention since its introduction. The aim of the bill is to eventually push for amnesty for America’s approximate 11 million illegal immigrants while also simultaneously working to supposedly secure the nation’s borders. If the nation is proposing amnesty while also securing the borders, this sends the message to the world that if one can overcome one of the nation’s borders and avoid detection that they will eventually be granted amnesty. The bill does make provision for adding border patrol agents and border surveillance. However, if amnesty is the main focus than these border security efforts are futile (“Border security, economic,” 2013) (Govtrack,us, 2013).

The amount of illegal narcotics, weapons, and aliens pouring into this country is alarming and is impacting this country in a majorly negative way. The United States shares 5,525 miles of border with Canada and 1,989 miles with Mexico. The maritime border includes 95,000 miles of shoreline and a 3.4-million-square-mile exclusive economic zone. Each year, more than 500 million people cross these borders to enter the United States, and approximately 330 million of them are foreign nationals. Even with over 21,000 border patrol officers we cannot keep up with the influx of illegal aliens entering this country. There is no doubt that granting amnesty will just add to this burden; and apparently many Americans agree as the President’s approval rating on immigration issues hovers around 32% (Boyle, 2013) (Bullock, 2013).

In response to this bill, U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) stated, “Show that America is a nation of laws,” and frankly, this is well stated. What other nation or government would entertain hundreds or even thousands of illegal aliens protesting, picketing, and demanding rights at the U.S. Capitol, State Capitols, and other government buildings. Would these people not be arrested in other countries? I think the main theme that is being overlooked here is that these people are in this country illegally. Simple because someone has avoided arrest and has not committed any new crimes in the United States (that are known) does automatically mean that they should have the right to stay in the U.S. (Boyle, 2013).

Also in response to President Obama’s statement that he has not “heard any good reason to oppose the Senate Bill,” Sen. Sessions responded with the following, “Clearly, he has not listened to the ICE and USCIS officers warning that the bill would permanently undermine enforcement. Here are three more reasons: the Senate bill will lower wages, increase unemployment, and reduce per-capita GNP. All of these statements are confirmed by the Congressional Budget Office.

Under current law, we will provide approximately 10 million grants of permanent residency (green cards) over the next decade. Under the Senate bill, that number will triple to more than 30 million. Further, the Senate bill would double the number of guest workers at a time when a record 90 million Americans are outside the work force. We need to get Americans off of unemployment, off of welfare, and back into the labor force–but the ‘reforms’ proposed by the Senate would put even more Americans out of work.” This directly impacts the Homeland Security efforts in this nation (Boyle, 2013).

Not only has U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement publicly announced that this bill seriously defeats enforcement efforts; but funding would be lost through amnesty programs that could have been used for Homeland Security efforts. Since 09/11/2001, the United States has spent $791 billion on Homeland Security funding and it seems as though we still do not have the full resources needed to combat all of the complex challenges that we face. The list of challenges is almost endless from international and domestic terrorism, border security, natural disaster response, cyber-security, and much more. Even with that enormous amount of funding, Homeland Security could still use more as we continually see that key agencies such as Customs and Border Protection and understaffed. Now let us examine how much the U.S. government has spent on illegal immigrants. $113 billion was spent by the U.S. government in the year 2010 alone.

This includes education, healthcare, police activities, etc. for illegal aliens. Their contributions to the U.S. economy are far outweighed by the burdens they present (“Federation for American,” 2013). If we multiply that figure by 13 years (on average) it is easy to see that those costs far surpass what is being spent on The Department of Homeland Security. In 2012, The Department of Homeland Security requested a budget adjustment of $39.51 billion to properly fund and staff agencies such as Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, TSA, The National Protection and Programs Directorate, and FEMA.

The additional funds were requested for several reasons to include providing raises for federal workers and fund disaster relief. By removing these illegal aliens rather than providing amnesty, we can reduce this economic burden and redirect our funds to where they can be used wisely by the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies (Homeland Security, 2013) (“Border security, economic,” 2013).

In conclusion, The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013, is legislation that has recently been passed by the U.S. Senate and is awaiting the approval of the House of Representatives. The bill seeks to grant amnesty to millions illegal aliens along with other immigration reform. Much of this reform is a serious misallocation of resources and funds that would be better used elsewhere. The focus of the nation should not be on immigration amnesty but securing the nation’s borders, removing illegal aliens and the burden they place on the U.S. economy, and rerouting funds to other Homeland Security efforts that will actually protect the nation.