Cornyn Releases Text of Border Security Amendment

On Wednesday, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, released the text of his amendment to the Senate’s immigration bill that would prevent illegal immigrants who become legalized after the bill’s passage from even applying for Green Cards, let alone citizenship, until the border is secure. 

Breitbart News’ Mike Flynn wrote on Tuesday that Cornyn’s amendment, which is 134 pages, could decide the immigration bill. Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has already referred to it as a “poison pill.”

As Byron York notes, if Cornyn’s amendment is adopted, illegal immigrants who have been “granted registered provisional immigrant status” would not be able to get their status adjusted in 10 years unless the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Commissioner of United States Customs and Border Protection certify, under the penalty of perjury, that various border security triggers have been met.

The amendment calls on them to “jointly submit to the President and Congress a written certification, including a comprehensive report detailing the data, methodologies, and reasoning justifying such certification, that certifies, under penalty of perjury, that:” 

(i) the Secretary has achieved and maintained full situational awareness of the Southern border for the 12-month period immediately preceding such certification;

(ii) the Secretary has achieved and maintained operational control of the Southern border for the 12-month period immediately preceding such certification;

(iii) the Secretary has implemented the mandatory employment verification system required by section 274A of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a), as amended by section 3101 of this Act, for use by all employers to prevent unauthorized workers from obtaining employment in the United States; and

(iv) the Secretary has implemented a biometric entry and exit data system at all airports and seaports at which U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel were deployed on the date of the enactment of this Act, and in accordance with the requirements set forth in section 7208 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (8 U.S.C. 1365b)

York said the provisions were “well received” by Republican lawmakers, except for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who, along with Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and John McCain (R-AZ), is a member of the Senate’s “Gang of Eight.”