Border state

“ Real reform means strong border security, and we can build on the progress my Administration has already made – putting more boots on the southern border than at any time in our history, and reducing illegal crossings to their lowest levels in 40 years. ”

“ SUBTITLE A — PROTECTING THE NORTHERN BORDER Sec. 401. Ensuring Adequate Personnel on the Northern Border. The Attorney General is authorized to waive any FTE cap on personnel assigned to the Immigration and Naturalization Service on the Northern border. Sec. 402. Northern Border Personnel. There are authorized to be appropriated— (1) such sums as may be necessary to triple the number of Border Patrol personnel (from the number authorized under current law) , and the necessary personnel and facilities to support such personnel, in each State along the Northern Border ”

“ That's why our Administration has moved aggressively to secure our borders more, by hiring a record number of new border guards, by deporting twice as many criminal aliens as ever before, by cracking down on illegal hiring, by barring welfare benefits to illegal aliens. ”

“ It is much to be regretted that many lawless acts continue to disturb the quiet of the settlements on the border between our territory and that of Mexico, and that complaints of wrongs to American citizens in various parts of the country are made. ”

“ There is every reason to believe that disturbances like those which lately agitated the neighboring British Provinces will not again prove the sources of border contentions or interpose obstacles to the continuance of that good understanding which it is the mutual interest of Great Britain and the United States to preserve and maintain. ”

“ With open markets and a level playing field, no one can out-produce or out-compete the American worker. (Applause.)
Keeping America competitive requires an immigration system that upholds our laws, reflects our values, and serves the interests of our economy. Our nation needs orderly and secure borders. (Applause.) To meet this goal, we must have stronger immigration enforcement and border protection. ”

“ Intimately connected with this subject is the obligation of the Government to fulfill its treaty stipulations and to protect the Indians thus assembled "at their new residences from all interruptions and disturbances from any other tribes or nations of Indians or from any other person or persons whatsoever," and the equally solemn obligation to guard from Indian hostility its own border settlements, stretching along a line of more than 1,000 miles. ”

“ The Commission appointed to inquire into the state of affairs on the Borders, after the breaking of Carlisle castle by Buccleuch, and to discover, if possible, some remedy for the clamant evils which prevailed, suggested in the first paragraph of their report “that ministers be planted at every Border Church to inform the lawless people of their duty, and watch over their manners—the principals of each parish giving their prime surety for due reverence to the pastor in his office ”

“ The preservation of the lives and property of our fellow-citizens who are settled upon that border country, as well as the existence of the Indian population, which might be tempted by our want of preparation to rush on their own destruction and attack the white settlements, all seem to require that this subject should be acted upon without delay, and the War Department authorized to place that country in a state of complete defense against any assault from the numerous and warlike tribes which are congregated on that border. ”

“ Exclusion of aliens not presenting visas, etc.; exception.Any alien seeking to enter the United States who does not present a visa (except in emergency cases defined by the Secretary of State) , a reentry permit, or a border-crossing identification card shall be excluded from admission to the United States. ”

“ It is the only question in relation to any part of our border, which has not been amicably adjusted by treaty. We claim the boundary formed by a line drawn from the Lake of the Woods, in the 49th degree of latitude, due west to the Rocky Mountains, thence to the parallel of 54, and on that to the Pacific. The British, on the other hand, claim that part, lying west of the Rocky Mountains, and north of the 46th parallel, or the latitude of the Columbia River. Our claim to the whole of this Territory, the part in dispute being called the Oregon, is based upon priority of discovery, and purchase. ”

“ I've made the point throughout the discussion of this bill that from my standpoint, a good piece of immigration legislation has to accomplish essentially four things. The first it has to do is make the borders secure. There's no reason that we cannot secure the southern border. The northern border is a bigger problem because of its length and its topography, but the southern border can be secured. ”

“ In a letter published in the Richmond “Enquirer” on January 17, 1861, he recommended a convention of border states — including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, as well as Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri — for the purpose of devising some method of adjusting the difficulties brought on by the secession of South Carolina. The scheme adopted by this convention was to be submitted to the other states, and, if adopted, was to be incorporated into the Federal constitution. In acting upon Mr. ”

“ A land boundary between two States is an easily understood concept. It marks the place where the full sovereignty of one State ends and that of the other begins. The concept of a boundary in the sea, however, is a more elusive one. The high seas, as distinguished from inland waters, are generally conceded by modern nations to be subject to the exclusive sovereignty of no single nation. ”

“ The acquisition of sovereignty, therefore, attends as a necessary consequence upon the establishment of a nation in a country. But a nation may establish itself in a country, either by immigration in a body, or by sending forth a colony; and when a nation takes possession of a vacant country, and settles a colony there, “that country, though separated from the principal establishment or mother country, naturally becomes a part of the state, equally with its ancient possessions.” ”

“ The Minister of the United States appears, by his letter, to be well aware that Great Britain has always considered the liberty formerly enjoyed by the United States, of fishing within British limits, and using British territories, as derived from the third article of the Treaty of 1783, and from that alone; and that the claim of an independent state to occupy and use, at its discretion, any portion of the territory of another, without compensation or corresponding indulgence, cannot rest on any other foundation than conventional stipulation. ”

“ The first section speaks of the subjects of such colonizaion as 'foreigners.' It guarantees to them security of person and property. The second and third describe the lands open to such colonists, and requires the states to make rules and regulations for colonization within their limits. The fourth (whose construction is now under consideration) forbids the colonization of the territory comprehended within twenty leagues of the boundaries of any foreign state, and within ten leagues of the sea-coast, without the consent of the supreme executive power. ”

“ In the execution of the treaties of peace of 1782-11 and 1783-09, between the United States and Great Britain, and which terminated the war of our independence, a line of boundary was drawn as the demarcation of territory between the two countries, extending over nearly 20 degrees of latitude, and ranging over seas, lakes, and mountains, then very imperfectly explored and scarcely opened to the geographical knowledge of the age. ”

“ The term 'country' is used in section 20 to designate, in general terms, the state which at the time of deportation, includes the place from which the alien came. Whether territory occupied and administered by a country, but not officially recognized as being a part of it, is to be deemed a part for the purposes of this section, we have no occasion to consider; for, since the entry of the judgment below, the Treaty of Riga has so defined the eastern boundary of Poland as to include Grodno, and the United States has officially recognized this boundary line. ”

“ Article XVI. The migration or importation of Persons held to Service or Involuntary Servitude, into any State, Territory, or place within the United States, from any place or country beyond the limits of the United States or Territories thereof, is forever prohibited. ”

“ To the intrinsic difficulties of questions of boundary lines, especially those described in regions unoccupied and but partially known, is to be added in our country the embarrassment necessarily arising out of our Constitution by which the General Government is made the organ of negotiating and deciding upon the particular interests of the States on whose frontiers these lines are to be traced. ”

“ The Executive has no power or authority to determine the true line of boundary, but it is his duty, in maintaining the laws, to have regard to the actual state of things as it existed at the date of the treaty—all must be now regarded as New Mexico which was possessed and occupied as New Mexico by citizens of Mexico at the date of the treaty, until a definite line of boundary shall be established by competent authority. ”

“ And the people that say we create precedent — well, what do you have? Fifty-six? There are a lot of times — well, that’s creating precedent. And many of those are far less important than having a border. If you don’t have a border, you don’t have a country. ”

“ A recent agreement with Mexico provides for the crossing of the frontier by the armed forces of either country in pursuit of hostile Indians. In my message of last year I called attention to the prevalent lawlessness upon the borders and to the necessity of legislation for its suppression. I again invite the attention of Congress to the subject.
A partial relief from these mischiefs has been sought in a convention, which now awaits the approval of the Senate, as does also another touching the establishment of the international boundary between the United States and Mexico. ”

“ But in a sparsely settled country, where water is not abundant, the actual border line, if there be any clear line, between settlement from one side and settlement from the other will not for the convenience of treaty-makers run along a river, but rather for the convenience of the settlers along the water-parting between two rivers. ”

“ Persons, goods, postal services, ships, vessels, carriages, wagons and other means of transport coming from or going to the free zone, and crossing the territory of the State under whose sovereignty or authority the port is placed, shall be deemed to be in transit across that State if they are going to or coming from the territory of any other State whatsoever. ”

“ When, however, the United States claim to hold in their hands the title of Spain against Great Britain, and upon the strength of that title propose to make a final partition of the territory hitherto the subject of a common occupation, if they would abide by their own rule, as solemnly propounded by their commissioners on two distinct occasions, the middle distance between 38° and 54° 40′ becomes the boundary line of course. ”

“ It is the policy of the executive branch that, to the extent permitted by law and as practicable, State and local jurisdictions be granted a role in the process of determining the placement or settlement in their jurisdictions of aliens eligible to be admitted to the United States as refugees. ”

“ The British proposition of compromise, which would make the Columbia the line south of 49 , with a trifling addition of detached territory to the United States north of that river, and would leave on the British side two-thirds of the whole Oregon Territory, including the free navigation of the Columbia and all the valuable harbors on the Pacific, can never for a moment be entertained by the United States without an abandonment of their just and dear territorial rights, their own self-respect, and the national honor. ”

“ Restrictions upon Territorial Jurisdiction.
§ 144. As all persons and things within the territory of a State fall under its territorial supremacy, every State has jurisdiction over them. The Law of Nations, however, gives a right to every State to claim so-called exterritoriality and therefore exemption from local jurisdiction chiefly for its head, [231] its diplomatic envoys, [232] its men-of-war, [233] and its armed forces [234] abroad. ”

“ While considerable changes may take place in the course of a century, yet these are often of a more or less superficial character, affecting only to a limited extent the thoughts, habits, and customs of a community. In the present instance, however, the changes which took place in the life of the Border clans seem to have been as thorough as they were rapid. In a comparatively short time the Borders, from being one of the most lawless and disorderly districts in the country, became an example to both kingdoms in honesty, sobriety, and true patriotism. ”

“ Then, as we sail down the eastern islands, hardly a score in number, and within sight of one another, aggregating in area less than our little State of Delaware, about 2,000 square miles, we find five foreign and no less than a dozen distinct colonial governments, each responsible to Europe, with no 423 shadow of federation between them, or even cooperation of any kind—a condition not only pitiable, but absurd. ”