Building a 21st Century Immigration System
"… They wanted more agents at the border. Well, we now have more boots on the ground on the southwest border than at any time in our history.
"The Border Patrol has 20,000 agents -- more than twice as many as there were in 2004. It's a build-up that began under President Bush and that we've continued, and I had a chance to meet some of these outstanding agents, and actually saw some of them on horseback who looked pretty tough. (Laughter.) So we put the agents here.
Referring to Republicans who had called for tougher border protections, he said, "They wanted a fence. Well, the fence is…The fence is now basically complete.
"We have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement. All the stuff they asked for, we've done. But even though we've answered these concerns, I've got to say I suspect there are still going to be some who are trying to move the goal posts on us one more time.
"You know, they said we needed to triple the Border Patrol. Or now they're going to say we need to quadruple the Border Patrol. Or they'll want a higher fence. Maybe they'll need a moat. (Laughter.) Maybe they want alligators in the moat. (Laughter.) They'll never be satisfied. And I understand that. That's politics.
"But the truth is the measures we've put in place are getting results. Over the past two and a half years, we've seized 31 percent more drugs, 75 percent more currency, 64 percent more weapons than ever before. (Applause.) And even as we have stepped up patrols, apprehensions along the border have been cut by nearly 40 percent from two years ago. That means far fewer people are attempting to cross the border illegally.
"And also, despite a lot of breathless reports that have tagged places like El Paso as dangerous, violent crime in southwest border counties has dropped by a third. El Paso and other cities and towns along this border are consistently among the safest in the nation. (Applause.) Of course, we shouldn't accept any violence or crime. And we've always got more work to do. But this progress is important and it's not getting reported on."
"The Border Patrol has 20,000 agents -- more than twice as many as there were in 2004. It's a build-up that began under President Bush and that we've continued, and I had a chance to meet some of these outstanding agents, and actually saw some of them on horseback who looked pretty tough. (Laughter.) So we put the agents here.
Referring to Republicans who had called for tougher border protections, he said, "They wanted a fence. Well, the fence is…The fence is now basically complete.
"We have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement. All the stuff they asked for, we've done. But even though we've answered these concerns, I've got to say I suspect there are still going to be some who are trying to move the goal posts on us one more time.
"You know, they said we needed to triple the Border Patrol. Or now they're going to say we need to quadruple the Border Patrol. Or they'll want a higher fence. Maybe they'll need a moat. (Laughter.) Maybe they want alligators in the moat. (Laughter.) They'll never be satisfied. And I understand that. That's politics.
"But the truth is the measures we've put in place are getting results. Over the past two and a half years, we've seized 31 percent more drugs, 75 percent more currency, 64 percent more weapons than ever before. (Applause.) And even as we have stepped up patrols, apprehensions along the border have been cut by nearly 40 percent from two years ago. That means far fewer people are attempting to cross the border illegally.
"And also, despite a lot of breathless reports that have tagged places like El Paso as dangerous, violent crime in southwest border counties has dropped by a third. El Paso and other cities and towns along this border are consistently among the safest in the nation. (Applause.) Of course, we shouldn't accept any violence or crime. And we've always got more work to do. But this progress is important and it's not getting reported on."
The president points out in the above speech how much progress we have made at the Mexican border, even meeting Republican standards until they say what they wanted in the first place is not enough. The president says in this speech, “That means far fewer people are attempting to cross the border illegally.” In my eyes this shows that more people are trying to cross the border legally, I don’t see the people who would have crossed illegally just giving up on it altogether. As far as I am concerned the president’s speech lets everybody know that what we are doing for our immigration system is working.
