Discusses Immigration with DHS Secretary Chertoff

Washington, DC, Jul 27, 2006 - U.S. Congressman John Carter (TX-31) today asked a member of the Administration, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, a series of questions related to border security and immigration. During a hearing of the House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee, Congressman Carter discussed the feasibility of implementing various border security proposals.

“I strongly believe that we have to protect the border first. I went to El Paso this weekend, and the additional resources at the border are producing real results. We need to continue to use resources along our border to make it even more secure, but we are making progress,” Congressman Carter said. “The amnesty provided by the Reid-Kennedy bill would completely overwhelm our immigration system and put our nation’s security at risk. In Texas, there is already a six year delay in immigration cases. We simply cannot dump an additional 12 million people into the system and expect our illegal immigration situation to improve.”

Earlier this week, Congressman Carter also expressed concerns regarding the impact that broad amnesty would have on Social Security in a written statement submitted to the House Ways and Means Committee.

“Amnesty would place a severe strain on Social Security to meet the needs of the more than 10 million new workers suddenly eligible to receive benefits—benefits they have accrued be openly ignoring our laws,” Carter wrote. “We also need to undertake a serious study of the potential costs to federal, state, and community welfare programs and educational systems associated with the legalization of millions of illegal immigrants.”

*Video of Congressman Carter’s exchange with Secretary Chertoff is available at http://carter.house.gov/multimedia.*