Rogers / 1 Senator Greene

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S.R._____

A BILL
To further increase security along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE
This act may be cited as the Border Strengthening Act of 2017.
SECTION 2. FINDINGS
Congress hereby finds and declares that,
1) There were 11.4 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. in 2014.
2) Statistics show the estimated 11.7 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. account for 13.6 percent of all offenders
sentenced for crimes committed in the U.S. Twelve percent of murder sentences, 20 percent of kidnapping sentences
and 16 percent of drug trafficking sentences are meted out to illegal immigrants.
3) The Migration Policy Institute estimated that there were 820,000 unauthorized immigrants in the United States
who had ever been convicted of a crime.
4) Fences are being built along one-third, or approximately 670 miles, of the border to secure the border and cut
down on illegal immigration.
5) As of the present day, the 1,933-mile border between the United States and Mexico is the most heavily crossed
both legally and illegally international boundary in the world.
6) Mexicans make up about half of all unauthorized immigrants (49%), though their numbers have been declining in
recent years.
7) The U.S. Border Patrol also began hiring thousands of additional agents to patrol the southern border.
8) Less than half of the U.S.-Mexico border is under operational control, and one out of every five illegal
immigrants caught there has a criminal record.
9) ...the FBI's terrorist screening center "reported 143 land border crossing encounters with watch-listed individuals
in southwest border states between November 2013 and July 2014.
10) Less than 3 percent of illegal immigrants will ever be deported, and more than 700 miles of the U.S.-Mexico
border remained unsecured as of 2014.
11) In FY 2012, Border Patrol agents made over 364,000 arrests of people illegally entering the country.
12) In FY 2012, Border Patrol agents on the Southwest border seized more than 5,900 pounds of cocaine and more
than 2.2 million pounds of marijuana.
13) ...since October of last year, federal agents have recorded more than 500,000 arrests of illegal border crossers in
just two sectors of Arizona.
SECTION 3. STATUTORY LANGUAGE
A) The Border Strengthening Act of 2017 shall hereby gather the necessary the proper needs and funds to and further
distribute long needed funds and call to action the right protection for borders and border agencies.All funding will
be in action through October 1, 2017. All actions will begin January 1, 2017.
B) For proper security increase, funds for further wall construction and agents along the border, funding from EPA
and PETA will be limited and the budget will be $54,500,000. Of that amount, $34,000,000 will go towards the
building and refurbishing of walls/fences along the US-Mexico border, and $20,000,000 will go towards hiring more
agents to be on the ground along the borders and at ports to watch for illegal immigrants and goods flowing in and
out of the country.
C) The Border Strengthening Act of 2017 shall be enacted on January 1, 2017 and may be amended in order to fix for
the better, as needed, through the entire year of 2017. After the amendments have been made, we must not forget the
original matters of this Act.

There were 11.4 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. in 2014 (Krogstad). For one of the
strongest, most secure nations in the country, 11.4 million illegal immigrants is just sad and security along
those borders needs to be increased immediately. Lessening the number of illegal immigrants and catching
them in the act will benefit the country in many ways. Time to start making changes by recognizing the
illegal immigrant numbers and crimes, unemployment rate and adding more agents, and adding many more
miles to our border fences.
Not only are these immigrants breaking the law by coming into our country illegally, they are also
taking part in more illegal activities The fact that people break the law to come into this country the wrong
way and then proceed to break many more laws is wrong and needs to be stopped.
After the unemployment rate rose by about a third under Obama, people must start to look for
possible jobs with the border patrol. These jobs are beneficial in two ways; one being that these men and
women are finding jobs instead of banking on unemployment checks, and two being that this is just further
increasing the man power along the southern border of the United States of America.
One of the more costly portions of border security is finishing the fencing along the southern border
between the U.S and Mexico, but it is a much needed piece of this large puzzle to keep illegal immigrants
out. If only three percent of a, said to be, 11.4 million illegal immigrant population will be deported and
more than half of the border is open for crossing, this will do nothing but give more people a better reason
to illegally cross into our country because of their chance for possible success. The United States is trying
to make progress in strengthening the border but what is not being shown is the improper funding that
makes building more fences take longer and leave the border vulnerable to more aliens crossing over into
this country illegally.
This country is strong and diverse, but lacks the border security to keep out the diverse groups that
are illegally entering the country and taking job opportunities from American citizens. Its time to stand up
and make a change, crack down on the illegal immigration population, better secure the fencing along
southern borders, and help drop the unemployment rate by hiring more border agents. We must take action
now and secure the borders at all costs to make America a better, safer country.