Posted on 12/21/2003 1:02:39 PM PST by Theodore R.
Cornyn's focus set on the border
By Tricia Cortez Times staff writer
In his first year as a U.S. Senator, John Cornyn has taken a key interest in the border, a fast-growing and often misunderstood region that is vital to the state of Texas and the rest of the country.
Cornyn, the former Texas attorney general, has focused much of his time and energy on identifying the problems and interests of the Tex-Mex border.
While he brings a new perspective and understanding of these pressing but long-neglected issues to Congress, Cornyn said it is a constant struggle educating his colleagues about the borders dynamics, given deep-rooted misconceptions about the region and its people.
"Life as we know it along the border is unknown to most of my colleagues in Washington, and thats a real problem," Cornyn said in a recent interview with the Laredo Morning Times.
"Those of us from Texas and the border know that we have people passing back and forth across the border on a daily basis to go to work, buy goods and services or visit family and that our lives are intertwined. But you tell that to somebody from Kansas or Rhode Island or Nebraska, and they may or may not understand what youre talking about," he said.
The junior Republican senator from Houston has already attended nine events on the Texas-Mexico border; visited Mexico City once and secured funding for border hospitals and a medical research facility, among other things.
He has introduced several pieces of legislation that address the creation of a guest worker program, the naturalization of non-citizens serving in the U.S. military and the reimbursement of local law enforcement for incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens.
Cornyn has also authored legislation designed to increase fairness between the two borders by revamping the way Laser Visas are issued to Mexican tourists and businesspeople versus their Canadian counterparts.
Other front burner items are: the upcoming but controversial US-VISIT program, which calls for establishing entry-exit tracking procedures at the international bridges; the unresolved water debt with Mexico and aiding Mexican law enforcement in combating the corruption and violence tied to drug trafficking and human smuggling.
During the interview, Cornyn explained why the border is a top priority for his office.
"Im new to the Senate and one of things I wanted to do was to make sure the federal government lived up to its responsibilities along our international border," he said.
"What we have seen, historically, is that the federal government drops the ball, then the state government has to pick it up or failing that, the local government does. When we talk about the challenges associated with an international border, it is plainly a federal issue, so the federal government has to step up," he said.
Laser Visa "The Laser Visa has been a concern of mine based on conversations I had in August with constituents in Brownsville, McAllen, Laredo and El Paso," Cornyn said. "What they told me they were most concerned about was that the people who contributed greatly to the economy in our border region were being treated badly, almost as if they were criminals." To stay in the U.S. longer than three days, Mexican nationals must submit an I-94 form and pay a $6 entry fee. Canadians, by contrast, are automatically granted a six-month stay.
"When I found out about this, I decided that we should introduce legislation to establish parity and equality with how we treat Mexican visitors and Canadians," Cornyn said.
Immigration Reform "Mexico has a history of many challenges, first and foremost of which is providing employment opportunities for its people," Cornyn said. "The reason we have such pressure on our border from immigrant workers is because they have no hope and no opportunity in their own country. Thats why its so important to work with Mexico to create opportunities there," he added.
Cornyn thus filed the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2003 in July that would develop a guest worker program and strengthen homeland security efforts at the border.
Co-sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) and Congressman Jeff Kolbe (R-Arizona), the bill is expected to get hearings as early as February.
It would develop standards of enrollment, training and monitoring of workers. An estimated 8 to 10 million undocumented individuals living in the U.S. are unaccounted for. It should also cut down on the amount of illegal alien smuggling, Cornyn said.
There are two ways of dealing with coyotes, persons who are paid to smuggle aliens across the border at a cost of nearly $1,500 a person, he added.
One is to provide a legal framework for people to come and work in the U.S. and then return to their home country so that they dont have to rely on human smugglers.
"Two, we are working cooperatively with Mexico on investigating and breaking up some organized criminal cells that deal with human cargo," he said.
"The problem with Mexico is that when you have lawlessness with drugs, it breeds problems like money laundering, which can be used to finance criminal, and even terrorist, activity. The human smuggling issue is very serious," Cornyn said.
"Frankly, there is a lot of discrimination and ignorance on this subject. Some people think the only two choices are to build a wall or grant complete amnesty. Im not for either one. I think theres a vast middle ground," he said.
Law Enforcement The U.S. has spent considerable amounts of money with law enforcement agencies in Mexico City on counter-terrorism and fighting narco-traffickers and human smugglers, the senator said. "They have created new agencies in the federal government, such as the Federal Agency of Investigation, or AFI, Mexicos version of the FBI, which deals with investigations of kidnappings and other crimes," Cornyn said.
The problem of corruption, he said, is mainly a problem at the local level among people who are simply tempted by the amount of money that drug traffickers and others can offer.
"They are also intimidated by the deadly threats they make against police officers or their families. So, it is a continuing challenge at the local level, but I have been very positively impressed by the efforts made by Mexican Attorney General Macero de la Concha," Cornyn said.
According to Cornyns office, the U.S. government has appropriated $37 million to Mexico for counter-narcotics and supportive law enforcement needs.
Other Legislation Cornyn also co-sponsored the Local Emergency Health Services Reimbursement Act in March to help provide funding to doctors, hospitals and other health care providers that currently offer uncompensated emergency health care to immigrants. "Our local hospitals along the border are required by federal law to admit any patient, regardless of their status, to emergency room," Cornyn said. "But the federal government creates an unfunded mandate because local taxpayers have to bear this burden."
In the Medicare bill, signed into law this month, Texas will receive $50 million annually over four years to compensate local communities for that unfunded mandate.
Cornyn also co-sponsored the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program Reauthorization Act to assist states whose costs for incarcerating criminal undocumented immigrants continue to exceed federal funding levels.
He also introduced the Military Citizenship Act, signed into law last month as part of the Defense Authorization Act.
This will accelerate the path to citizenship for more than 35,000 non-citizens in the armed services and will provide survivor benefits. It also reduces the wait time of required service before naturalization from three years to one year "So there are some things happening positively, but the demands are very high and things have festered for a long time," he said.
Cornyn is a member of four Senate committees: Judiciary (he is chairman of the Subcommittee on the U.S. Constitution), Armed Services, Budget and Environment & Public Works.
Prior to becoming U.S. Senator, Cornyn served as a district court judge in San Antonio. He was then elected to the Texas Supreme Court in 1990 and resigned to run for Texas Attorney General, a post he held from 1999-2002.
Cornyn, 51, was born in Houston on February 2, 1952. He is a graduate of Trinity University and St. Marys School of Law, both in San Antonio, and earned a masters of law from the University of Virginia Law School in 1995.
He and his wife of 23 years, Sandy, have two daughters.
(Staff writer Tricia Cortez can be reached at 728-2568 or tricia@lmtonline.com.)
12/21/03
The reporter is confusing congressmen. She means either "Jeff Flake" or "Jim Kolbe," both AZ Republicans.
The reporter is confusing congressmen. She means either "Jeff Flake" or "Jim Kolbe," both AZ Republicans.
Not only that, but the reporter has the bills all mixed up also. Cornyn's proposed legislation is distinct from the bill that McCain introduced in the Senate and Kolbe and Flake introduced in the House. Not even the same principles actually, since the McCain-Kolbe-Flake bill is not really a guest worker proposal. The mixup is probably because all these bills have very similar titles.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.