Bush: Pledge on US Border Security Fulfilled
By VOA News
05 August 2006
With backdrop of US Border Patrol keeping watch on Rio Grande River, George Bush speaks to a group about immigration policy in Mission, Texas, Aug. 3, 2006
President Bush says he has fulfilled his promise to send 6,000 National Guard troops to the southern border of the United States to help with border security.
The president said in his weekly radio address Saturday that the troops are serving in the states of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California. He said with the backing of the National Guard, the U.S. Border Patrol has seized 7,700 kilograms of illegal drugs and caught more than 2,500 illegal aliens since mid-June.
Mr. Bush said he has other plans to make the nation＇s border more secure. He said he plans to ask Congress for 6,000 more Border Patrol agents, as well as high-tech fences in urban corridors and new patrol roads and barriers in rural areas.
Mr. Bush also repeated his call for a temporary worker program, as well as new ways to enforce immigration laws at U.S. work sites. He said the nation needs more effective tools to verify workers＇ legal status and a way to resolve the status of illegal immigrants who are already in the country.
And he said the country needs legislation to help newcomers assimilate. He added that the ability to speak and write the English language is one thing that binds the nation＇s people together.
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