Pittsburgh, PA – U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA), Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, today introduced the Border Security First Act. “Throughout the debate on immigration reform, I have consistently stated that the first thing we must do is secure our nation’s borders,” said Senator Santorum. “The Senate recently passed the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, which I did not support for a number of reasons – mainly because it did not appropriately address the problem at hand. While the House and Senate are working to come to an agreement on the broader issues in the immigration bill, I am introducing the Border Security First Act today because our borders must be secured now – not later. In the post 9/11 world we live in, our national security depends on our border security. We need to know who is coming into our country, where they are from, and what they are doing here.” The Border Security First Act will provide increased assets for controlling the United States borders including more inspectors, marshals, and border patrol agents on both the northern and southern borders. The bill calls for increased surveillance, new checkpoints and ports of entry, and increased fencing and vehicle barriers – all in an effort to control the U.S. borders. The Border Security First Act calls for a comprehensive national strategy for border security, information exchange between agencies, increasing the capacity to train border patrol agents and combating human smuggling. The bill would enhance initiatives on biometric data, secure communications for border patrol agents, and provide Customs and Border protection officers with additional training and identifying fraudulent documents. Additionally, the Border Security First Act would temporarily deploy the National Guard to support the border patrol in securing our southern land border. The bill would also increase punishment for the construction of border tunnels or passages and provide relief for cities, counties and states dealing with increased costs because of illegal immigration. “First things first – we must secure our nations borders. Securing our borders means securing every point of access into our country, whether that is by land from Canada or Mexico, through our airports or through our seaports. I am glad to be joined today by Senators Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and Jim Talent (R-MO), and hope that my Senate colleagues will join me in recognizing the urgency of addressing this issue without delay,” said Senator Santorum.

Here’s the text of the bill.