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Dreier Votes To Increase Border Patrol, Enhance Immigration Enforcement
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman David Dreier (R-San Dimas, CA) voted yesterday to hire 200 additional border patrol agents and crack down on illegal immigration. H.R. 2892, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2010, was approved by the House with overwhelming bipartisan support.
“Bolstering the border patrol and enforcing our immigration laws are critical to our national security,” Dreier said. “It is imperative that our border patrol agents and immigration and customs enforcement personnel have the tools and resources available to safeguard our borders and enforce immigration laws.”
Dreier strongly supported an amendment that provided $34 million to hire an additional 200 border patrol agents. The measure also provides $11.4 billion for Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which supports the 17,000 border patrol agents on the southwest border and includes $732 million for border fencing, infrastructure and technology. In addition, the bill allocates $5.7 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including $2.5 billion for detention and removal activities and $117 million for ICE to train local law enforcement to carry out certain immigration enforcement activities.
H.R. 2892 also provides $112 million for the E-Verify Program, which allows employers to check the validity of workers’ Social Security numbers. Dreier stressed the need for an improved system which can detect identity fraud. Dreier continued, “The E-Verify Program is a great step toward enacting H.R. 98, the Illegal Immigration Enforcement and Social Security Protection Act, bipartisan legislation I authored to create a mandatory employee verification system utilizing a counterfeit-proof Social Security card, with photo ID and electronic strip, providing employers with a tamper-free tool to verify work authorization status. This will provide relief to employers and small business owners who have been forced to act as immigration and document experts.”