After two days of debate, the House approved, 239-182, a bill (H.R. 4437) on December 16 that would enhance international land and maritime border security, and would better enforce current immigration laws. The House Judiciary Committee approved the measure on December 8 (see The Source, 12/9/05).
During consideration of the bill, the House approved, by voice vote, an amendment offered by Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL) that would add a section to the bill that states, “Congress condemns rapes by smugglers along the international land border of the United States and urges in the strongest possible terms the Government of Mexico to work in coordination with the United States Customs and Border Protection of the Department of Homeland Security [to] take immediate action to prevent such rapes from occurring.”
Rep. Brown-Waite explained that “the reports of the lawlessness along our borders are unprecedented. Stories about the number of young girls and women who smugglers and society’s dregs rape as they attempt to cross the border are widespread. Numerous recent articles have told stories of Minutemen members who are haunted by cries of women who are being raped and abused…All along the southern border, the sight of women’s undergarments hang from border fences as trophies. This is appalling, and yet it is also very telling. These are stories of mattresses tucked in caves for more convenient access to rape young girls as young as 8- and 9-years-old crossing the border. Violent acts against females in this manner are despicable. Congress cannot and should not tolerate this behavior.”
Speaking in support of the amendment, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) stated, “Rape is a horrendous crime. Every 2 ? minutes somewhere in the United States someone is sexually assaulted, and only 36 percent of the rapes are reported to law enforcement in the United States. It is safe to assume that the rate of reporting is considerably less along the border. The women who are crossing our border are extremely vulnerable, and they are unlikely to tell law enforcement officials that they were raped while trying to cross the border without their papers. The smugglers know that these women are vulnerable, and they take advantage of them. I think in many ways this amendment makes clear what many have been talking about today, and that is the need to gain control of the situation at the border.”
The House also approved the following amendments by voice vote: An amendment by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) that would provide fines and sentences for individuals who enter into marriage in order to evade immigration laws. The amendment also would clarify that the bill does not limit the Department of Homeland Security’s discretion in detaining or releasing an alien when a credible fear of persecution is found; and An amendment by Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) that would add human trafficking and smuggling to the list of specified unlawful activities under the federal money laundering statute.
The House rejected, 162-252, an amendment offered by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) that would have required the Department of Homeland Security to create a program under which eligible aliens would be released into the custody of a suitable citizen or organization who would supervise them, prevent them from absconding, and ensure that they make required appearances. Eligible aliens would have included pregnant women, trafficking victims, parents who are detained with one or more of their children, aliens with mental health needs, and elderly aliens over the age of 65. Under the amendment, aliens seeking asylum in the United States and unaccompanied children would have been exempted from the detention and removal proceedings contained in the bill.
In addition, Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) offered a motion to recommit that would have substituted the text of the Border Security and Terrorism Prevention Act (H.R. 4312) as approved by the House Homeland Security Committee on November 17 (see The Source, 11/21/05). The motion failed, 198-221.
