YUMA (Arizona) SUN

July 21, 2006

Speaker of House visits Yuma

BY MARK RANDALL, SUN STAFF WRITER

U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert doesn't know what the magic combination or formula is to stop illegal immigration.

What he does know is that the American people expect and are demanding that the southern border be secured.

And after touring the U.S.-Mexico border during a visit to Yuma Friday he is more convinced than ever that building more border fences and the presence of the National Guard is helping to stop the flow of illegal immigrants.

"What we saw was the National Guard building a fence that looked to me difficult to penetrate. And that's a goal," Hastert said. "Can you do that all across the border? No. But can you do it in strategic areas? Yes. I think that's what we need to do."

Hastert toured a section of the border south of San Luis, Ariz., along with a handful of lawmakers including Arizona Congressmen J.D. Hayworth and Jim Kolbe, and U.S. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.).

The congressmen visited with members of the Kentucky National Guard and the U.S. Border Patrol who were installing security fencing and thanked them for their work.

"We're very grateful for what you're doing," Hastert told Guard members. "We wouldn't be able to do it without you."

Guard members from Arizona, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Utah have all spent time on the border in the Yuma sector installing roads and sections of fence. President Bush has called for 6,000 National Guard troops to be deployed to help secure the border.

The visit by Hastert comes at a time when Congress is holding a new round of talks aimed at breaking the legislative deadlock in Washington, D.C., over illegal immigration.

House lawmakers continue to press for tougher border security measures while the Senate favors broader reform measures which include a guest worker program and providing a pathway to citizenship for the more than 14 million illegal immigrants already working in the U.S.

Hastert said Congress first needs to solve the problem of illegal entry.

"The compromise is let's get the border secure," Hastert said. "You have got to secure the border first because the border is a sieve before we can look at anything else. When there is zero penetration, then we can look at other issues."

Hayworth said most Americans agree that enforcement is the key to dealing with the illegal immigration issue.

"It's really simple to see that we can get this done if we deal with enforcement first," Hayworth said. "I want to do it right. I think that means enforcement first. No tricks. No triggers. No amnesty. Get this done first then we can deal with the other questions."

King, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said he came away with a better sense of what needs to be done to secure the border.

"I think we definitely do need a fence," King said. "To me it is an essential component of whatever we do. When you see it up close, when you are there, it puts a real face on it. To me it was very informative for me to see it in person, not just seeing it on television or reading about it. The world changed on September 11. We don't have the luxury of looking the other way any more.”

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Hastert's trip to the border allows him to see firsthand the Republican's failure to secure the border.

House Republicans have rejected Democratic efforts to increase funding for the Border Patrol seven times over the last four years, she said.

"(Hastert's) visit only underscores that the president and the Republican Congress have miserably failed their obligation to protect the American people at our borders," Pelosi said in a news release. "It is unacceptable that nearly five years since 9/11 our nation's borders remain in a perilous state of insecurity.”

Lawmakers left Yuma by helicopter for a tour of Camp Grip, a remote desert Border Patrol encampment located in an area frequented by smugglers, then finished the day with a night tour of the border in Nogales.

The delegation will be in El Paso, Texas, today visiting the Bridge of Americas Port of Entry, one of the largest and busiest in the country.