[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 11] [Senate] [Pages 14438-14439] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]IMMIGRATION Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, for a moment I wanted to address the subject of immigration before we leave for the weekend. About 2 months ago, I offered an amendment to the Senate immigration bill which at the time was referred to as a deal-breaker. I want to suggest that it is now being referred to as a deal-maker. I wish to offer some suggestions constructively for the Senate to consider and others who are involved in this debate. I want to repeat, for the benefit of everyone, what the amendment I offered and the distinguished Presiding Officer supported, as well as many other Members of the Senate--not enough but almost enough--simply said: That no program contained in the act that granted legal status to someone who was in America illegally could take effect until the Secretary of Homeland Security certified that all of the border security measures proposed in the act in title I and section 233 of title II were in force, funded, and operational. It has become known as a trigger because it said that any guest worker program or any other reform that took place could only take place after we had done the job the American people suggested we should do. A lot of people said: We can't secure our border. If we can transplant hearts and fly to the Moon, we can secure our border. What we have needed is resolve. I have been pleased to see just this week countless articles in countless [[Page 14439]] newspapers where all of the players in the debate, from the White House to the Senate, the House of Representatives, have now opened themselves to discuss a trigger in the immigration reform bill to ensure that when we have immigration reform, it is truly comprehensive because I would suggest to them that in the absence of border security, there can be no comprehensive reform. Only when people know that the door is closed will they cooperate with not only the spirit but the letter of the law and the reforms that we make. Just to remind us in the Senate, we were very specific in title I. The specifics of title I said we will train the 6,000 Border Patrol agents and put them online. That takes 2 years to do. It said we will build the barriers where necessary geographically and the roads where essential. That is doable in 2 years. We will deploy the 27 UAVs, the eyes in the sky, to surveil the entire 2,000-mile southwestern border. That is doable, and it is doable within a year. We will build the detention facilities to end the catch-and-release practice and to begin to have true enforcement on the border. And we will have a verification program for guest workers and immigrants that is verifiable and not forgeable. That takes 2 years. So as a practical matter, as people have backed up from the original debate, they have looked forward. They now are seeing through the forest to look at the trees, and they say, yes, if we secure the border, it will take 2 years, but it is going to take 2 years to implement whatever else we would do on worker reform as well. So folks are coming together. People are beginning to talk, and I am pleased with that--pleased with that because I am the grandson of an immigrant who came to this country, became a naturalized citizen, and I honor our immigration process. I am glad to see that because we depend on a workforce that is vibrant and dependable. And I am pleased to hear that because I believe the American people consider our border an emergency. And now that all the players are beginning to talk, hopefully we can close the deal. Mr. President, yesterday the distinguished Senator from Alabama, Mr. Sessions, offered two amendments to the Homeland Security bill. Although they failed, they laid the groundwork for what I think is an important step for us to take and that is to go ahead and move forward with what all of us agree are the necessary steps for border security. That is the foundation upon which we can reach the final agreements on guest worker, on green cards, on quotas, and on citizenship, but only after the American people are convinced we have made the commitment to secure our border will the American people want us to make any deal on reform of immigration. We pass emergency supplementals for various things in this body. We have done it in response to Katrina; we have done it in response to Iraq. I submit the American people would tell you there is no greater emergency than securing our border. If the White House sent an emergency supplemental to this Senate for the money to fund the UAVs, the 6,000 Border Patrol agents, and the rest of title I, I doubt we would see maybe one or two dissenters because everybody knows it is an emergency, they know it needs to be done. And if it is, in fact, correct, that border security first is the trigger for comprehensive reform which is necessary, then let's declare it an emergency. Let's have the proposal come to the floor, let's debate it, and let's fund it, so as the year progresses, as the hearings are done, as we come back in session in September, we in this Congress can deal with comprehensive reform built on the foundation of comprehensive border security first. Mr. President, I appreciate your cooperation and that of all the colleagues in this body as we work dealing with a very difficult and complicated but a very doable reform of our immigration laws. I appreciate the commitment of those so far in border security first, and I think in the end all of us together--the executive and legislative branches--can come together on comprehensive reform that is built on securing our border to ensure the reforms we make are lasting and agreed to. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll. The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered. ____________________