My Letter to Congress: H.R.4321 Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosp...

I am writing as your constituent in the 21st Congressional district of Texas. I support H.R.4321 - Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009, and am tracking it using OpenCongress.org, the free public resource website for government transparency and accountability.

Sincerely,
Amit Uppal

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Dear Friend:
Thank you for contacting me regarding border security and comprehensive immigration reform. I welcome your thoughts and comments.

As a border state, Texas benefits from the contributions of legal immigrants, but it is also uniquely vulnerable to the negative impacts of illegal immigration. My principles on this issue have been clear and consistent: we must secure our borders and discourage illegal behavior.

We must address the safety and security needs of the United States. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I have worked to appropriate increased funding for border security, which includes high-tech tools, additional Border Patrol agents, Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigators, detention officers, and detention beds.

Far too much of our border goes unprotected. I have pushed to expand the presence of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, to help provide the tools that law enforcement officers need to protect the southwest border. I set the goal of covering all 2,000 miles of the U.S-Mexico border every single day of the week.

I joined with other border state Senators to offer a series of amendments to heighten border security. Shortly after my colleagues and I introduced our amendments, the President announced a proposal for increased border security funding. After de-emphasizing border security, and even proposing to cut forces on the southwest border, this was a welcome shift in policy. Unfortunately, our border security amendments failed in the Senate, but we will continue to work toward providing the tools, manpower, and resources needed to protect our border.

We have a broken immigration system that is not fair to those who are waiting to enter the country through the legal channels, or to the American people who live by the rule of law. We need fundamental reform of our visa policy, our temporary worker program, our identification systems, our family unity laws, and so much more.

We have the 21st century technology to make our safety and security a reality. It is the responsibility of the federal government to fix our broken immigration system and to secure our borders. This is a duty that I take very seriously. You may be certain that I will keep your views in mind as immigration reform is considered in the Senate.

I appreciate hearing from you, and I hope that you will not hesitate to contact me on any issue that is important to you.

Sincerely,
Kay Bailey Hutchison
United States Senator

284 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5922 (tel)
202-224-0776 (fax)
http://hutchison.senate.gov

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Thank you.