S.744 – Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act

Introduced by CHUCK SCHUMER
April 16, 2013
Passed Senate: YEAs 68 / NAYs 32

It passed the Senate but no comparable bill made it out of committee in the House that was found in searching. This bill took 4 submissions and 554 amendments to be completed.

CBO findings: (Even they recognized the bill had more needed than Schumer submitted.)

Introduction to the Bill:

(1) The passage of this Act recognizes that the primary tenets of its success depend on securing the sovereignty of the United States of America and establishing a coherent and just system for integrating those who seek to join American society.

(2) We have a right, and duty, to maintain and secure our borders, and to keep our country safe and prosperous. As a Nation founded, built and sustained by immigrants we also have a responsibility to harness the power of that tradition in a balanced way that secures a more prosperous future for America.

(3) We have always welcomed newcomers to the United States and will continue to do so. But in order to qualify for the honor and privilege of eventual citizenship, our laws must be followed. The world depends on America to be strong—economically, militarily and ethically. The establishment of a stable, just, and efficient immigration system only supports those goals. As a Nation, we have the right and responsibility to make our borders safe, to establish clear and just rules for seeking citizenship, to control the flow of legal immigration, and to eliminate illegal immigration, which in some cases has become a threat to our national security.

(4) All parts of this Act are premised on the right and need of the United States to achieve these goals, and to protect its borders and maintain its sovereignty.

The bill makes significant additional investments in border security, including: $3 billion for the Border Security Results Strategy (consultations and recommendations by the new expensive commission); $2 billion to carry out the Commission’s recommendations (slush fund to carry out their recommendations); $1,5 billion for fencing, infrastructure, personnel, and technology (this is in addition to all of the personnel, equipment etc. mentioned below); $750 million for E-Verify (which eventually faded out); funds for the hiring of 3,500 CBP officers; funds for increasing prosecution of border crossing violations; enhancements to state law-enforcement preparedness through Operation Stonegarden for combating illegal immigration and drug smuggling; 24-hour surveillance of the southwest border region using video, unmanned aircraft, helicopters and watercraft; expanded reimbursement of states’ costs of detention of unauthorized immigrants; and training of CBP, Border Patrol, and ICE officers. The salaries of border contractors will have caps.

What is not noted is that 2 Trust Funds were to be set up. Also we saw exactly what they considered fencing. Which barely registers or keeps a goat much less a person from going over or through what they wanted built. The very wording that Schumer supplied to submit the bill says that he demanded strong borders and why it was needed. Do what is needed.

Indeed 2018 was one for the record books. Paul outlined $114,514,631 in wasteful expenditures, including:

Providing stipends to soldiers in the Somali National Army (State): $76,321,379
Promoting the already overcrowded farmers market industry (USDA): $13,400,000
Teaching Rwandan special interest groups and citizens how to lobby (State): $250,000
Using theater to combat homelessness and poverty (NEA): $15,000
Studying the sexual habits of quails on cocaine (NIH): $874,503
Funding a fictionalized opera about Prince Harry (NEA): $15,000
Making videos marketing U.S. colleges to Indian students (State): $75,000
Blowing leaf blowers at lizards (NSF): $75,691
Supporting “legislative priorities” in Libya (State): $1,000,000
Putting on plays in Afghanistan (State): $200,000
Studying horse and donkey hunting on the ancient Anatolian Peninsula (NSF): $361,891
Supporting Egyptian tourism (State): $18,000,000
Paying to bring British student social activists to the U.S. (State): $200,000
Encouraging people in the Republic of the Congo to use local resources (State): $35,000
Studying daydreaming (NIH): $2,488,153
Conceptualizing games in India (State): $50,000
Paying for museum trips in Bosnia & Herzegovina for Bosnians & Herzegovinians (State): $50,000
Developing a Pashto-language TV drama series for Afghanistan (State): $653,014
Teaching female entrepreneurs in India how to “vlog” (State): $50,000
Supporting asset seizure programs in Paraguay (State): $400,000