Arizona Senator John McCain just this week rejected the fence he had promised during his reelection campaign and now says, “To actually secure our border, we must deploy the latest drone and radar technology developed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.”
According to Thorpe, “In 2006, Congress passed legislation that funded and mandated the construction of some 700 miles of new border fencing. Seven years later, there is scant little construction progress to speak of. While Congress inflicts further harm upon Arizona and the American people by failing to fulfill their obligations to construct and maintain the fence, it is now behaving as if it had never enacted this mandate nor allocated the scarce taxpayer funding with which to complete it.”
Thorpe argues that the Gang of 8’s bill is “… not only is this misguided,” but it is “bloated in its shear size,” and “does not do nearly enough to ensure an end to rampant illegal immigration nor does it secure our border against violent drug cartels, brutal human trafficking syndicates or dangerous foreign agents of terror.”
It is the growing awareness of the dangers of drug cartels that most concerns Arizonans, and under McCain’s plan, they will now have to worry about drones overhead. Thorpe urged the Gang to secure “… our nation’s 1700 mile porous Southern border.”
Thorpe said that the border, “… most notably that of Arizona, must be fully secured before any form of legal status is extended to any illegal immigrants currently residing in the U.S.”
On Tuesday, the Senate voted 39-54 to reject the Thune amendment to the immigration reform bill which would have required 350 miles of new fencing on the Southern border before the federal government could grant provisional legal status to immigrants.
According to The Hill, the amendment would have prevented the government from granting provisional immigrant status until the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has built 350 miles of Southern border fencing. Another 350 miles of fencing would have to be constructed before those with provisional legal status could apply for a green card.
John McCain and Jeff Flake voted against the border fence amendment. McCain said he objected to the Thune amendment because it “…. would delay the process of identifying and performing background checks on illegal immigrants until an arbitrary number of miles of double-layer fencing is completed.”
On Thursday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) launched a national petition to stop the Senate Gang of Eight’s amnesty bill and send Washington a “strong signal” of the grassroots opposition to the bill.
“This is urgent,” Cruz wrote in an e-mail to supporters. “We must stop this Gang of 8 immigration bill, which would give amnesty to an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants with no guarantee of a secure border.”
According to Cruz, the Senate debate “is in the final stages and we need to send Washington a strong signal of the overwhelming grassroots opposition to this amnesty bill from Americans across the country.”
Thorpe sent his letter to U.S. Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake as well as to Congressmen Paul Gosar (R-Dist. 4), Matt Salmon (R-Dist. 5), David Schweikert (R-Dist. 6) and Trent Franks (R-Dist. 8).
Full text of letter:
“I am writing on behalf of the citizens of the Great and Sovereign State of Arizona to strongly urge you to vote against the one thousand plus page immigration bill currently being considered in the United States Senate.
Not only is this misguided bill bloated in its shear size, but it does not do nearly enough to ensure an end to rampant illegal immigration nor does it secure our border against violent drug cartels, brutal human trafficking syndicates or dangerous foreign agents of terror.
However, it does promote a de-facto amnesty, rewarding tens of millions who have broken our immigration laws, with no concrete guarantees of border security or future managed, limited and lawful immigration practices. Passage of this legislation will be disastrous for both the United States and for all immediately vulnerable border states like Arizona.
In 2006, Congress passed legislation that funded and mandated the construction of some 700 miles of new border fencing. Seven years later, there is scant little construction progress to speak of. While Congress inflicts further harm upon Arizona and the American people by failing to fulfill their obligations to construct and maintain the fence, it is now behaving as if it had never enacted this mandate nor allocated the scarce taxpayer funding with which to complete it.
Our nation’s 1700 mile porous Southern border, most notably that of Arizona, must be fully secured before any form of legal status is extended to any illegal immigrants currently residing in the U.S.
I am available and ready to fight for my constituents and my state in order to ensure the security of our border regions and the sovereignty of our nation. Please feel free to contact me if there is anything that I can do to help achieve passage of responsible immigration legislation that fulfills these crucial national priorities.”