U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) Monday voted in favor of the amendment to immigration reform offered by Senators John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) that would strengthen border security before allowing those here illegally to pursue permanent residency. The Senate adopted the amendment, of which Alexander was a cosponsor.

“The Hoeven-Corker amendment takes big and important steps on the immigration issue that matters most: border security,” Alexander said. “It would double the number of agents on the southwest border, construct 700 miles of new or upgraded fencing and spend $3.2 billion on new security technology that was perfected in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

The Hoeven-Corker amendment would add 20,000 border patrol agents, enough to allow putting one agent every 1,000 feet along the U.S. southwest border. The border patrol agents, fencing and security technology plan would have to be in place before anyone under the immigration legislation’s “Registered Provisional Immigrant” program would be allowed to apply for legal permanent residency, otherwise known as a green card.

Alexander continued, “It is the constitutional responsibility of the president and Congress to write the rules for a legal immigration system and to enforce them. As this legislation reaches its final form, I will be examining it closely to determine whether it creates an effective immigration system that respects the rule of law. My goals will remain securing our border, ending de facto amnesty and creating a legal immigration system.”

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Jim Jefferies with the Alexander Office in Washington, D.C.