Cornyn Co-chairs Hearing On Strengthening Enforcement And Border Security


In: All News   Posted 03/14/2005
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The hearing examined the need for better training for border inspectors, the importance of ensuring document security and integrity, and finding and closing gaps in the visa systemWASHINGTON—Terrorists will continue to successfully enter the United States unless homeland security officials are provided with adequate technology, information systems and specialized training in terrorist travel tactics. That was the message from witnesses at a joint hearing of two key Senate Judiciary Committee panels Monday. The hearing examined the need for better training for border inspectors, the importance of ensuring document security and integrity, and finding and closing gaps in the visa system. It was the first in a series of hearings on "Strengthening Enforcement" planned by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship subcommittee."We must not kid ourselves: we haven’t finished the job," said Sen. Cornyn, who co-chaired the hearing. "It is clear that defects in our ability to enforce our laws and to secure the border pose a threat not only to the rule of law, but to the security of our nation as well."Monday’s hearing, entitled "Strengthening Enforcement and Border Security: The 9/11 Commission Staff Report on Terrorist Travel," was held jointly by the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship, chaired by Sen. Cornyn, and the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security, chaired by U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.). At the hearing, Senators heard from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials, a former INS commissioner, and a former Counsel for the 9/11 Commission. "Before we debate the need for reforming immigration law, we should ask why it is we have so miserably failed to enforce our current laws," Cornyn said at the hearing. "After all, our current immigration system is badly broken. As an American I am deeply troubled by our chronic inability – even our unwillingness at times – to do what it takes to enforce our immigration laws."Future hearings are planned to focus attention on the challenges that face the nation’s ability to enforce immigration laws, interior enforcement and the need to strengthen America’s deportation system, "because we need to review the immigration system from top to bottom," Cornyn said. A second hearing on strengthening enforcement is scheduled for April 6.Witnesses at the hearing included DHS officials Elaine Dezenski, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Bureau of Transportation Security, and Tom Walters, Acting Assistant Commissioner of the Office of Training and Development for Customs and Border Protection; former Immigration and Naturalization Commissioner Doris Meissner, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute; and Janice Kephart, former Counsel for the 9/11 Commission who currently serves as a senior consultant for The Investigative Project in Mount Vernon, VA.Sen. Cornyn is the only former judge on the Judiciary Committee and served previously as Texas Attorney General, Texas Supreme Court Justice, and Bexar County District Judge.