A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION, Urging the federal government to secure our national borders and enforce United States immigration laws.

    WHEREAS, the crisis of illegal immigration in the United States impacts tens of millions of Americans in many different adverse ways; and

    WHEREAS, there are reportedly twelve million illegal aliens and counting who are living and working in the United States illegally; and

    WHEREAS, the federal government's failure to fulfill its responsibility in the area of illegal immigration, during both Democratic and Republican administrations, has led to the crisis we now face; and

    WHEREAS, as citizens, we must respect the institution of government and its just laws, but at the same time, we have a right to expect the government to fulfill its ordained mandate to enforce the laws of our country; and

    WHEREAS, we hold that our federal government has failed to control the borders and failed in its responsibility to enforce the immigration laws on persons here illegally and on the

employers who knowingly exploit them or employ them to the detriment of legal workers; and

    WHEREAS, our borders have become a virtual highway for illegal immigrants from around the world which has allowed terrorists unfettered access to our country and state, creating a grave security threat to all Americans; and

    WHEREAS, people are coming directly in the United States of America with no medical screening whatsoever and transitioning directly into our population, creating a biosecurity threat for both human and animal health; and

    WHEREAS, many of these illegal aliens are being exploited by employers and others in society; and

    WHEREAS, we hold that our government was instituted to secure the blessings of freedom, that exploitation of illegal aliens is an unqualified evil and the antithesis of freedom; and

    WHEREAS, illegal immigration is an unmitigated threat and an affront to South Dakotans:

    NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the House of Representatives of the Eighty-seventh Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the Senate concurring therein, that the South Dakota Legislature urges Congress and the President of the United States to immediately provide for the security of our nation by controlling and securing our national borders; and

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we urge the federal government to enforce all immigration laws, including the laws directed at employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants or who are unjustly paying these immigrants substandard wages or subjecting them to conditions that are contrary to the labor laws of our country; and

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we stand in support of other states who have enacted state laws in attempts to protect their citizens, and the exploited, from the effects of illegal immigration.