Representative Walter Jones, North Carolina

Recently, Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard wrote an article where he referred to several of my colleagues on the immigration caucus as "yahoos."

Mr. Kristol later went on to describe himself on Fox News channel as soft on "illegal immigration." Sadly, this point of view is not an isolated opinion.

Significant numbers of self-described conservatives do not believe that securing our borders and enforcing our nation's immigration laws should be the federal government's number one national security priority.

But Post 9/11, numerous lawmakers in Washington D.C. have come to the conclusion that for national security reasons alone our nation can no longer afford an "open borders" policy.

Consider the written testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee on February 16, 2005 by Deputy Homeland Security Secretary James Loy.

"Recent information from ongoing investigations, detentions, and emerging threat streams strongly suggests that al Qaeda has considered using the Southwest Border to infiltrate the United States," Loy stated. "Several al Qaeda leaders believe operatives can pay their way into the country through Mexico and also believe illegal entry is more advantageous than legal entry for operational security reasons."

Loy also related the danger of infiltration through the extensive Canadian border, and concluded, "Al Qaeda and affiliated elements currently have the capability to produce small amounts of crude biological weapons, and may have acquired small amounts of radioactive materials."

FBI Director Robert Mueller also appeared before the Intelligence Committee. "Because of al Qaeda's directed efforts this year to infiltrate covert operatives into the U.S., I am also very concerned with the growing body of sensitive reporting that continues to show al Qaeda's clear intention to obtain and ultimately use some form of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-energy explosives material in attacks against America."

AND House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter was quoted as saying that, "al Qaeda's interest in penetrating the U.S. from Mexico 'demonstrates that national security is unavoidably linked to border security,' and that funding border security must be a priority for this Congress."

The 9/11 Commission's final report of July 22, 2004 pointed out immigration-related failures or problems that likely contributed to the attacks. As examples of missed opportunities, the report notes that collectively the 9/11 hijackers: included known al Qaeda operatives who could have been watchlisted, presented fraudulent passports, presented passports with suspicious indicators of extremism, made detectable false statements on visa applications, made false statements to border officials to gain entry into the United States, and violated immigration laws while in the United States.

The report contends that because border security was not considered to be a national security matter prior to 9/11, neither the State Department's consular officers nor the Immigration and Naturalization Service's inspectors or agents were considered to be "full partners" in the national counterterrorism efforts.

To correct these weaknesses, the Commission made several recommendations including integrating the U.S. border security system into a larger network of screening points that includes the transportation system and setting standards for the issuance of birth certificates and sources of identification, such as driver's licenses. The Commission would also like to see a complete biometric screening system that also speeds qualified travelers.

Finally, the report stated that it is elemental to border security to know who is coming into the country. The report stresses that we must be able to monitor and respond to entrances through our ports of entry, working with Canada and Mexico as much as possible.

Make no mistake about it - this country desperately wants something done about open borders and the uncontrolled migration by people breaking the law.

I would also argue that a considerable number of illegal immigrants have no interest in becoming American citizens - as seen by the flying of Mexican flags in recent demonstrations across the country.

Let's also be clear that a minority of illegal immigrants are criminals - as witnessed by statistics indicating that 20% of our federal prison population is made up of illegal immigrants.

What we need now is to support the House bill that secures our border first, and then let's deal with legislation that provides legal temporary workers for our businesses with a component that emphasizes a renewed commitment to English, American civic culture and the rule of law. We do not have to go after illegal workers. We have to go after illegal businesses.

September 11^th and the terrorist attack on London should be a wake-up call for this country. Business as usual is not an option. It is time to secure our borders.


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