Senator John Cornyn

March 22, 2006

America needs to create a layered immigration system at its borders, its interior and in the workplace, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said during a speech in Houston on Tuesday.

The country should secure its borders, not by building a wall, but by doubling the number of Border Patrol agents, the Texas Republican said. The federal government needs to work with local and state law enforcement agencies and create a verification system that employers can use to determine workers' immigration status, he said.

"It's unfair to sanction employers when the government doesn't live up to its end of the bargain," Cornyn said during a speech to the Greater Houston Partnership. President Bush echoed Cornyn's sentiments at a Washington news conference.

"There has to be enforcement — employer enforcement — of rules and regulations," Bush said. "The problem there, of course, is that people are showing up with forged documents."

The full Senate is to begin debating immigration Monday.

Cornyn does not believe the solution is to deport workers who are in the United States illegally, but he does not support amnesty. He has proposed a temporary worker program that would require guest workers to return to their home countries after a two-year period and apply from there for green cards…