Harry Reid eats crow on border security funding: “I was wrong and Senator Cornyn was right”

First, watch this as Harry Reid eats crow (hat tip: Senate tipster):

After Reid and the Dems tangled with the GOP last night, the Senate just passed a good border security funding amendment today, 89-1.

The goat who voted against it? Babbling George Voinovich.

The Corner has some back story. Yeah, Lindsay Grahamnesty was involved, but the movers and shakers were solid enforcement-first senators like John Cornyn.

Oh, and if Grahamnesty think this rectifies all his smearing of grass-roots conservatives as bigots, he’s delusional.

Here’s the roll (check out the fence-sitters, too):

The amendment summary, via BP:

“There is hereby appropriated $3,000,000,000 to satisfy the requirements set out in section 1002(a) and, if any amount remains after satisfying such requirements, to achieve and maintain operational control over the international land and maritime borders of the United States, for employment eligibility verification improvements, for increased removal and detention of visa overstays, criminal aliens, aliens who have illegally reentered the United States, and for reimbursement of State and local section 287(g) expenses. These amounts are designated as an emergency requirement pursuant to section 204 of S. Con. Res. 21 (110th Congress).”

The amendment would provide emergency funding of $3 billion for:

· Hiring 500 more Customs & Border Protection (CBP) officers per year (FY08-12), 1200 more Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents per year, 200 investigators to combat aliens smuggling, 50 Deputy U.S. Marshals;

· 23,000 Border Patrol agents hired, trained, and reporting for duty;

· 4 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles & 105 ground-based radar and camera towers;

· 300 miles of vehicle barriers & 700 miles of border fencing;

· A permanent end to the “catch-and-release” policy with 45,000 detention beds;

· Operational control over 100% of the U.S.-Mexico land border;

· To allow DHS to present a photo electronically to an employer so that the employer may confirm the identity of the individual when he presents ID;

· To require mandatory detention of aliens who overstay their visa by 60 days;

· To increase penalties for illegal entrants who are criminals of those who reentered after a deportation; and

· To reimburse local governments who choose to cooperation with ICE in enforcing the immigration laws (INA 287g).

287g is a focus of Deport Them Now.

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