We, the undersigned former officers of the United States Border Patrol, offer our views on the following matters now under debate in the nation.

• Illegal immigration
  We believe that aliens residing in the United States must be here with the nation's permission or they should leave or be removed. That begins by having a secure border and meaningful processes for screening those who wish to enter legally.
• Amnesty – by any name placed on it.
  We absolutely oppose any legislation that would allow aliens to remain in this country who have entered illegally or who have entered legally and remained here illegally.
• Employer sanctions
  We support meaningful employer sanctions. Laws presently on the books are adequate tools for the purpose. Their use, though, has been subverted to meaninglessness through political and legal pressure initiated by those who benefit from the presence of illegal aliens. Those subversions must be minimized by a statement of purpose from the Congress and clear direction from the administration to the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice that those laws be aggressively enforced through administrative action and criminal prosecution.
• Guest worker program We support a guest worker program in principle, believing that it can serve the national interest. However, we also believe that:
  • Guest workers must be limited in what they may do, what they may benefit from under immigration law, and the program must be tightly controlled.
  • No alien in any illegal status should be allowed to participate in it.
  • Application for the program must take place outside the United States.
  • The applicant must remain outside the U.S. while his application is pending.

We do not delude ourselves, nor would we try to fool the American people into believing that the border can be made completely secure: it can't. But it can be made secure enough.

Nor will we ever succeed in removing every illegal alien from this country.

What we can do, through the adoption and use of well-considered and effectively enforced laws, is gain control of a situation that now, in our opinion, threatens the national well-being. It will not happen overnight, or easily, but it can happen. To do less is to invite further chaos.