PatrickMcHenry

Immigration & Border Security

Illegal immigration threatens both our national security and economic security.  North Carolina has one of the highest populations of illegal immigrants in the country.  Social services such as health care and education for illegal immigrants cost North Carolina taxpayers millions of dollars every year.

Patrick McHenry is an original co-sponsor of the bipartisan SAVE Act, a plan that secures our borders with 8,000 new border patrol agents and increased aerial and satellite border surveillance.  In 2007, Congressman McHenry helped defeat the Bush Administration's effort to grant amnesty to 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States.

Congressman McHenry supported an immigration reform bill that passed in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2005. Among other provisions, the bill called for the construction of a security fence along our southern border, streamlined federal and local law enforcement cooperation on immigration matters and helped protect American workers by mandating an instant check system for businesses to verify the legal status of their employees.

As a freshman Member of Congress, Patrick McHenry introduced legislation known as the Comprehensive Immigration Data and Technology Accountability Act. This bill would have created a comprehensive computerized database to more effectively and efficiently track immigrants applying for visas or U.S. citizenship.