Border Patrol union boss: Tighter border won’t help

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Monday, May 29, 2006 | 6:57 a.m.

The head of the labor union that represents U.S. Border Patrol agents said Sunday the sweeping immigration reform bill passed by the Senate last week will do little to stop the "revolving door" he sees daily along the nation's border.

In his first public speech since passage of the Senate's bill, T.J. Bonner told a Las Vegas gathering of those opposed to illegal immigration that lawmakers had created "amnesty on steroids."

After describing what he considers decades of failed policies, Bonner said the solution isn't more Border Patrol agents, National Guard troops, technology or walls on the U.S.-Mexico border.

The answer, he said, is to "turn off the employer magnet (and) focus on the reason people are crossing borders."

Bonner is president of the National Border Patrol Council, representing 10,500 rank-and-file agents. He spoke to about 220 people from around the nation attending the second annual Unite to Fight Summit, held this weekend at Cashman Center.

The event drew dozens of protesters Saturday, but Sunday's gathering seemed to attract less controversy.

After taking the stage to a standing ovation, Bonner, a 28-year veteran of the Border Patrol, said measures to harden the border proposed by President Bush in recent weeks or contained in the Senate bill would accomplish little.

His remarks were greeted with frequent applause and huzzahs, bringing the event the atmosphere of a religious revival.

On sending 6,000 National Guard troops to the border: "It's great to have help, but they're only going to be able to do so much," and in some cases may wind up slowing the Border Patrol down.

On building 370 miles of wall, as proposed by the Senate: "There are four ways to get around a wall - go under it, over it, around it or through it."

Further, the Senate's proposal to offer a path to legalization for many of the nation's estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants was doing little more than "rewarding someone for breaking the law."

He also said he believed there were closer to 20 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, and that the very discussion of relief for them is already prompting more people to cross the border in hopes of taking advantage of future legislation.

The Border Patrol has apprehended about 10 percent more border-crossers since March than during comparable periods in recent years, he said.

This is the same phenomenon that occurred in 1986, when President Ronald Reagan offered amnesty to immigrants in the country illegally.

The answer, he said, is to create stiffer penalties for employers who hire undocumented workers, and developing a counterfeit-proof Social Security card.

He also said he "refuse(s) to believe that Americans are not willing to take the jobs (that immigrants fill) - if employers paid a decent wage."

As for the House bill that now must be reconciled with the Senate bill, its get-tough measures such as making illegal immigration a felony, while they wouldn't help get to the root of the problem - jobs for immigrants - would "at least not exacerbate the situation."

In the end, however, Bonner, the man who represents the thousands who play cat and mouse with millions of immigrants seeking a way into the United States, said "the best thing that can happen is if they (Congress) walk away from this process" - and not pass any bill.

Then he hopes that voters realize that illegal immigration will only be stopped when laws are passed "to cut off the access to jobs."