Peters Highlights Bipartisan Legislation to Secure Border in Weekly Democratic Address

“When President Trump says Democrats are against border security and for open borders, he’s lying”

On Friday, Congressman Scott Peters of California delivered the Weekly Democratic Address. Peters, a centrist member of Congress known for his practical approach to problem solving, represents California’s 52nd congressional district that includes coastal and central portions of the city of San Diego.

At a time when political tensions are at an all time high over the issue of immigration and Trump’s proposed border wall, Peters reminded us that there was, in fact, bipartisan legislation last Congress proposed by Representatives Pete Aguilar of California and Will Hurd of Texas that included significant border security measures.

How soon we all forget. Peters went on to discuss the legislation.

“It would have directed Homeland Security to perform a mile-by-mile assessment of our entire southern border to determine the most practical and effective way to secure it, and to offer Congress a strategy for each section of the border. It might be state-of-the-art technologies to detect tunnels, because even in places where we have a fence, as we do in San Diego, it’s easy to dig tunnels underneath. It might be sensors and radar to spot moving people and objects in any weather or time of day. It might be cameras mounted on drones to surveil places where the terrain is tough to monitor. Or, it might be, a physical barrier, such as a levee or fence if that makes sense in some places.  But if Homeland Security wanted to recommend something as expensive as a wall in a particular place, they’d have to justify the extra expense against other less costly tools.”

“In the last Congress, 193 Congressional Democrats and 23 Republicans acted to force a vote on these smart approaches to border security.  But unfortunately, Republican leadership did not allow a vote on our bipartisan bill, but I bet most Democrats would support these measures in this Congress this year,” he added.

Peters then had a stinging rebuke of the President.

“So, when President Trump says Democrats are against border security and for open borders, he’s lying.”

In giving the address, Peters referenced his work with San Diego’s Congressional delegation, both Republicans and Democrats, to secure $442 million in federal investment to modernize the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the busiest land border crossing in the Western Hemisphere.

Full video and audio of the Weekly Democratic Address can be downloaded here