Texas Rep. Filemon Vela, a first-term Democrat from Brownsville, has resigned from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus over the group's embrace of the Senate's immigration reform bill. In an e-mail, Vela said the bill's proposed militarization of the US-Mexico border - a plan which would sets aside some $46 billion dollars for 20,000 extra Border Patrol agents, an additional 350 miles of double-layered border fencing designed to frustrate potential crossers, and surveillance technologies which include 18 drone aircrafts - prompted his decision.
"I grew up on the border," Vela wrote in a post on Twitlonger, "and until recently, border towns in Mexico and the United States shared a common economic and cultural vitality. Now we have border fences, and they don't work. They harm the environment, inconvenience everyone and promote fear between neighbors. The Senate bill perpetuates an environment of fear and separation...Thus, on this issue, I could not remain silent as members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus endorsed the Senate-passed bill. For that reason, I tendered my resignation."
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The "border surge" amendment to the bill came late in the game in the Senate, in a concession designed to rally support among conservative senators and thus encourage the odds that the legislation could gain credibility in the House, where GOP members largely see it as untenable for its proposed path to citizenship for the nation's undocumented. One of the bill's sponsors, Senator Bob Corker (R- Tenn.), said the border security provisions were "almost overkill". John McCain (R-Ariz.) said it would make the border "the most militarized border since the fall of the Berlin Wall".
House Speaker John Boehner, has said he will not introduce it on the House floor.
The Atlantic noted at the end of June that two major liberal advocacy groups, Presente.org and the Border Network for Human Rights, withdrew their support for the Senate bill over it. The Border Network called the bill "a promise of abuse, violation and death" for residents of border communities.
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Rep. Vela wrote that doubling the numbers of Border Patrol agents was not the answer, saying a border security force of "first quality, not quantity" was essential.
"The real solution is a healthy Mexican economy and a Mexico which is free of cartel violence. If Mexican nationals have high paying jobs they will not need to immigrate here. Only by helping our Mexican partner with resources to fight drug cartels and fostering border trade will we stem the tide of illegal immigration...The US-Mexico border should not remind us of places like East Berlin, West Berlin, North Korea and South Korea."
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"President Obama recently proposed an initiative for Africa; I propose a greater initiative here on our own borders. We must redirect this misguided militarization of the US-Mexico border to promote effective and humane security for citizens of both countries, and to enhance the robust trade relationship which we both share. This addresses the real root cause of our illegal immigration and insecurity problems. It restores security in a cost effective way, restores our borders, and creates jobs not only in Mexico but in the US. And it is the right thing to do."
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