BORDER SECURITY

Stability for Economic Growth and Public Safety

The seriousness of this issue cannot be overstated.  As much as any challenge facing our country, the issue of border security affects national security, public safety, jobs, education, health care, the environment, and of course, families.

The debate surrounding the border between the U.S. and Mexico has taken on a new urgency.  In the last five years, 28,000 people have been killed in a war between rival gangs just in the area of Northern Mexico south of Texas.  Some of that violence has spread across the border, claiming the lives of six U.S. citizens over a short period of time last year.  This violence can be found all along the border and is a situation more analogous to a war zone than two nations at peace.

The free flow of drugs, weapons and people resulting from inadequate security at America’s ports and borders can undercut economic development, education and trade.  Drug cartels and transnational gang members have come across the border to recruit drug runners in our communities and schools.  While they promise an easy buck to their victims, the only reward is prison or an early death.

Why does this matter to Oregon?  The impact on our communities and our kids is lasting.  As of May 2009, nearly 1,400 individuals in Washington County have been identified as gang members or have been arrested for gang-related criminal activity.  Most of these individuals have ties to transnational gangs that exploit our porous borders.

Tragically, the Portland metro area has recently been named the second largest hub of human trafficking in the entire nation, a blight we must urgently correct to protect our children.  Such human trafficking includes both domestic and transnational victims, but the bulk of the foreign-born victims of human trafficking are smuggled into the country far too easily because of our lax border security at all points of entry to the U.S.

Thus, we must secure the borders.  And Oregon jobs could be the driving force!

Companies exist right here in the First Congressional District, in the Silicon Forest of Washington County and elsewhere, that possess technologies that could help secure the borders.  These Oregon companies need a strong champion in Congress – something sadly missing over the last dozen years.  I am committed to being an advocate in Congress for these employers, their workers, and their innovative technologies.  We have Oregon-created solutions to many national problems; we merely lack a strong enough voice in Washington, D.C. pushing for national attention to our amazing innovators.  There is no reason we cannot help address a national problem like border security while simultaneously helping deliver jobs to Oregon.

And as we secure the borders, we should also focus on increasing the efficiencies of legal immigration because, as always, legal immigration strengthens the American family and builds our economy.

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