06.25.13

Hoeven-Corker Amendment Passes Cloture Vote With More Than Two-Thirds Majority

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven (R-N.D) today issued the following statement after the U.S. Senate voted with a bipartisan majority for cloture on the Hoeven-Corker Southern Border Security Amendment to the new immigration bill:

“This afternoon, the U.S. Senate voted 67 to 27, a more than two-thirds, bipartisan majority, to pass cloture on our border security amendment. Americans want reform, but that means first and foremost securing the border,” Hoeven said. “That’s what our legislation seeks to do with five requirements, or triggers, that must be met before the transition to Lawful Permanent Resident or Green Card status for illegal immigrants.”

The five requirements to be met are as follows:

  • The Department of Homeland Security, after consultation with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Defense, the Inspector General of the Department, and the Comptroller General of the United States (GAO), has submitted a Comprehensive Southern Border Security Strategy to Congress that includes minimum requirements for each sector along the border as identified by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and the plan has been deployed and is operational.
  • The Border Patrol has deployed, maintained, and stationed 20,000 border patrol agents on the southern border in addition to the 18,500 agents already stationed there. This means an agent every 1,000 feet along the southern border.
  • An additional 350 miles of fencing has been completed (in addition to the 350 miles of fencing already on the ground).
  • The mandatory employment verification system has been fully implemented for all employers.
  • The mandated electronic entry/exit system has been fully implemented at all international airports and seaports of entry within the United States where U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers are currently deployed.

Affirming the effectiveness of the Hoeven-Corker Amendment, the CBO today reported that the legislation “would significantly increase border security relative to the committee-approved version of the bill, and it would strengthen enforcement actions against those who stay in the country after their authorization has expired. Therefore, CBO expects that, relative to the committee-approved version of S. 744, the amendment would reduce both illegal entry into the country and the number of people who stay in the country beyond the end of their authorized period.”

“We will continue to build strong bipartisan support for our measure because securing the border is a problem that has gone on too long in our country. We now have a historic opportunity to fix it,” Hoeven said.