Press Releases

More Than 200,000 Citizen Petitions Presented to Congressman Jones in Support of Border Fence

Washington, D.C. – At a press conference today on Capitol Hill, Steve Elliott, President of Grassfire.org, presented Congressman Walter B. Jones (R-NC) with more than 200,000 citizen petitions in support of H.R. 4987, the Fence By Date Certain Act.  Introduced by Congressman Jones in January, the bill would help answer the American people’s call for Congress and the President to reinstate and fully fund the original mandate of the Secure Fence Act.  Congressman Peter King, Ranking Member of the House Homeland Security Committee and author of the Secure Fence Act, and additional cosponsors of the Fence By Date Certain Act joined Jones to demand action by the House Democratic leadership on this urgently needed bill.

“Our nation’s sovereignty and homeland security are at risk, and the only credible approach to solving the problem of illegal immigration is to put border security first,” Congressman Jones said. “With more than 12 million people currently in this country illegally, and thousands more coming in every week, we can no longer ignore the crisis of illegal immigration.  By fully funding a physical fence across the U.S.-Mexican border, and setting a date for completion, we can regain control of our nation’s borders and stop the flood of illegal immigration.”

Grassfire.org President Steve Elliott said:  “The Secure Fence Act was the necessary first step in providing illegal immigration reform and securing our borders.  Unfortunately, certain members of Congress nullified this important bill and undermined the will of the people. With these petitions, the people are speaking again – nearly 250,000 of them – and they are demanding that the President makes good on his promise to the people by reinstating and fully funding the original mandate of the Secure Fence Act.”
 
Congressman King said: “The 110th Congress is almost over, and the biggest border security accomplishment the Democrat majority can claim is gutting a crucial piece of border security legislation.  The American people want their lawmakers to take real action to stop the crisis on our borders – but  as of today, we have not seen a single substantive bill that would do so make it to the House floor. Congress cannot shirk away from its responsibility to protect this nation; we must pass the Fence by Date Certain Act."

While the Secure Fence Act became law in October 2006, in December 2007, Congress passed and the President signed into law the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Appropriations bill, which included language that effectively gutted the Secure Fence Act by stripping its requirement that fencing be double-layered, at specific areas of the border and completed by certain dates.  Jones’ Fence By Date Certain Act would repeal the Omnibus language, reinstate provisions of the Secure Fence Act requiring 700 miles of double-layered fencing at specific locations along the border, authorize full funding and require the fence to be built by June 30, 2009.