President Obama on Border Security (2011)

              

 

(0:00) We're here at the border because we also recognize that being a nation of laws (0:05) goes hand in hand with being a nation of immigrants. Today there are an estimated 11 million (0:10) undocumented immigrants here in the United States. We have to acknowledge they've broken the rules.

(0:16) They've cut in front of the line. And what is also true is that the presence of so many (0:22) illegal immigrants makes a mockery of all those who are trying to immigrate legally. (0:27) We have strengthened border security beyond what many believed was possible.

(0:33) They wanted more agents at the border. Well, we now have more boots on the ground (0:37) on the southwest border than at any time in our history. The Border Patrol has 20,000 agents.

(0:53) The Border Patrol has 20,000 agents, more than twice as many as there were in 2004. (1:01) There's a buildup that began under President Bush and that we've continued. And I had a chance to (1:05) meet some of these outstanding agents, and I actually saw some of them on horseback (1:09) who looked pretty tough.

So we put the agents here. Then they wanted a fence. (1:19) Well, the fence is now basically complete.

Then we've gone further. We tripled the number of (1:35) intelligence analysts working at the border. I've deployed unmanned aerial vehicles to (1:40) patrol the skies from Texas to California.

And we're also going beyond the border. (1:46) Beyond the border, we're going after employers who knowingly exploit people and break the law. (1:56) And we are deporting those who are here illegally, and that's a tough issue.

(2:02) It's a source of controversy. Even as we recognize that enforcing the law is necessary, (2:07) we don't relish the pain that it causes the lives of people who are just trying to get by and get (2:12) caught up in the system. And as long as the current laws are on the books, it's not just (2:17) hardened felons who are subject to removal, but sometimes families who are just trying to earn a (2:22) living, or bright, eager students, or decent people with the best of intentions.

And sometimes (2:31) when I talk to immigration advocates, you know, they wish I could just bypass Congress and change (2:36) the law myself. But that's not how democracy works.