KING TO PRESIDENT: THANKS FOR SECURING AMERICA'S FUTURE AND BUILDING A BORDER WALL
King to Greet President in Iowa
Carroll, IA -Today U.S. Congressman Steve King (IA-05) thanked President Bush for scheduling a bill signing ceremony at the White House to publicly sign H.R. 6061, the Secure Fence Act, on Thursday morning.
Last month, both the U.S. House and the Senate passed the Secure Fence Act, which would erect 700-miles of border barriers along the southern U.S. border. The bill was delivered to the President to be signed into law, and it awaits his signature.
"I look forward to the President's signature on the Secure Fence Act, which will officially authorize 700 miles of double fence and wall for our southern border. I have spent considerable time on the border at night at some of the most heavily used illegal crossings. Anyone who believes we can control our border without a wall should spend just one night on the border at a well used illegal crossing. We can't hire enough border patrol officers to seal the border. A sound physical barrier has proven to be effective in controlling illegal border crossings," said King.
"No matter how much money is thrown at the problem, our border cannot be controlled without a physical barrier. A border barrier would direct all traffic to legal ports of entry," added King.
"There were $65 billion dollars worth of illegal drugs smuggled into the United States last year. The drug smugglers also smuggle people, including criminals and terrorists. The security of the American people is at great risk. We are likely to see another terrorist attack in this country. If so, the attacking terrorists are most likely to be smuggled into the U.S. across our Mexican border. We can dramatically reduce the risk by building a wall," said King.
A border fence is one step in the direction to securing America's future," added King.
In July, House leadership asked King to demonstrate his border wall design to the Homeland Security and Government Reform committee hearing on border barriers. King, a contractor by trade, designed a twelve-foot high concrete border wall to be difficult to tunnel under or scale, to reinforce the southern border.
King serves on the House Judiciary Committee, Immigration Subcommittee and the House Immigration Reform Caucus. He has long called for a common-sense immigration reform policy that returns jobs back to American workers by shutting off the jobs magnet and ending birthright citizenship, along with building barriers along the border to direct all traffic through the legal ports of entry.
In August 2005, King brought in immigration reform experts to hold forums on border security and immigration reform across western Iowa. King called for a fence\wall on August 22, 2005. He will see it become law on October 26, 2006.
