Jim's plan

Some people believe that America's illegal immigration problem is too big to solve. They therefore think that the only feasible solution is basically to do nothing--since things have seemingly gotten so far beyond the point of remedy.

Even the sheer size of our borders, themselves, causes some people to conclude that our borders are indefensible against invasion, incursion, and illicit trafficking--and that the steady flow of illegal aliens is thus unstoppable.

I believe otherwise. I also know that we MUST do a better job of securing our borders if we are to preserve our national security and sovereignty.

My plan for achieving this goal is much the same as that called for by a recent staff report by the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, which sent a team of independent investigators to study our Minuteman Project in April.

As a result of their study, the Immigration Reform Caucus observation team issued a number of workable recommendations--which I endorse in principle, and which I will work hard to see implemented if I become your Congressman. Among the team's findings are these:

Reasonable manpower increases will immediately curtail rampant illegal immigration. An average of six additional personnel on station per border mile proved effective in dramatically reducing illegal crossings.
Reinforcements can be oriented and deployed in days. In contrast to the Border Patrol position of two-year training time for new officers, the Minutemen demonstrated that auxiliary personnel can be trained and deployed in three days. The lesser duties of supporting higher-trained Border Patrol and other state and federal law enforcement agencies does not require the full legal skills of Border Patrol agents.
36,000 reinforcements would likely seal our southern border. However, unlike the Minutemen's 12-hour shifts, to maintain six personnel on station 24/7 on a permanent basis would require adequate personnel for at least three shifts, or 18 auxiliaries per mile. The 2000-mile southern border would therefore require a minimum 36,000 total additional personnel, with 48,000 likely for a long-term deployment requiring substantial support personnel.
Reinforcements are available from existing reserves. Troops should be drawn from all 50 states, or the border states and their neighbors at minimum. Mobilizing troops from just the border states would exhaust their manpower reserves, eliminate the warfighting capability of Guard members in those states, and be unsustainable. Drawing 36,000 National Guard and State Defense Force personnel from the border states and their immediate neighbors would require 41% of available forces in the respective states. If drawn from National Guard forces nationwide, the border reinforcements would total 11% of available forces. As a long-term solution, one-half of the 70,000 federal troops returning from overseas could be permanently assigned the mission as part of the BRAC process currently underway.
The Defense Authorization Act of 2005 provides specific legal authority for the Governors and the Secretary of Defense to immediately implement this plan with full federal funding. Section 512 of HR 4200, the Defense Authorization Act of 2005, passed by the 108th Congress, amends Title 32 Section 9 of U.S. Code to allow Governors to call forth their National Guard for homeland security duties within their state in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, and receive full federal funding for the mission, with no action required by Congress or the President.
Long-term solutions: Border security should remain a federal responsibility. The U.S. Border Patrol must be increased to somewhere between 25,000-50,000 officers to adequately guard our southern border, with the final size determination dependent on proven field effectiveness of new technology and infrastructure such as fencing, lighting, UAVs, sensors, etc. Until the Border Patrol is fully staffed and equipped, military support will remain a necessity. One-half or more of the 70,000 federal troops returning from overseas should be assigned the mission as part of the BRAC process currently underway, to relieve our National Guard and State forces as soon as practicable. Federal troops should in turn be relieved by a strengthened Border Patrol, but only when such reinforcements are fully in place.

In addition to endorsing the recommendations of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus report, I also plan to seek a return to the RULE OF LAW regarding American national interests. Specifically, I will pursue criminal convictions and civil penalties under existing federal and state laws against:

Persons conducting illegal human smuggling operations, especially the trafficking of children for sexual exploitation.
Persons dealing or collaborating in contraband, especially the trafficking of arms and weapons materiel inimical to our national security.
Persons engaged in document fraud relative to illegal immigration.
Operators of so-called "sanctuary" sites in the United States who aid and abet those trafficking in human smuggling.
Employers (or their agents) who have willfully, systematically and callously exploited illegal alien workers in violation of our immigration, tax and labor laws.