Two strong developments on the immigration bill today, first from nine US Senators to tighten border security irregardless of whether or not the bill goes forward.

June 12th, 2007 – Today, nine U.S. Senators wrote a letter to President Bush urging him to fulfill the border security provisions listed in the Senate immigration bill whether the legislation passes or not. Each border security trigger in the bill can be implemented under current law without any need for new legislation from Congress. The text of the letter is below:
Dear Mr. President:

We respectfully ask that your Administration enforce the border security laws that have already been authorized by Congress regardless of whether the Senate passes the immigration reform bill. The bill assumes that several critical border security benchmarks can be achieved within 18 months. These security triggers are already authorized under current law and can be completed without the immigration bill. We believe these enforcement measures are vital and should not wait until Congress passes additional immigration reforms.

Securing the border is the best way to restore trust with the American people and facilitate future improvements of our immigration policy.

Sincerely,

U.S. Senators Jim DeMint (R – South Carolina), Tom Coburn (R – Oklahoma), Mike Enzi (R – Wyoming), David Vitter (R – Louisiana), Jim Inhofe (R – Oklahoma), Jim Bunning (R – Kentucky), Charles Grassley (R – Iowa), John Ensign (R – Nevada) and Jeff Sessions (R – Alabama).

Add to this the fact that today U.S. Senators Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) today sent a letter to President Bush urging him to send an emergency supplemental spending bill to Congress to fund border security, and what you have is Republican leaders drawing a line in the sand. They are hearing from their constituants that they aren’t smelling what the President is cooking on immigration.

On point, this is a proper move. There is nothing in the proposed legislation on border security that can’t be accomplished under existing laws.

Ball in Bush court now.