"There is a reason that people want to come to our country. America has always been a land of opportunity where with hard work and heart you can become whatever you want."

America is failing to protect our borders. In turn, we've allowed open access to our nation. While America is the beacon of freedom to the world we must also enforce the rule of law and maintain our sovereignty. While I continue to support legal immigration to this country, I have signed onto a bill that establishes the North Carolina Security and Immigration Compliance Act to provide for the comprehensive regulation of persons in this state who are not lawfully present in the United States. I also signed onto a bill that would require that voters present a photo identification document before voting; and to restrict voter registration forms to the English language except as required by federal law.

If millions of illegal immigrants can break through our borders with just hopes and dreams, I'm certain terrorists can break through our borders with the means to cause a nightmare. On the federal level, Congress needs to stop playing with flowcharts and move past bureaucratic Washington D.C. nonsense to hire more Border Patrol Agents and Immigration Enforcement Agents instead of shifting responsibility and blame from one agency to the next. At the state level, Democratic Speaker Jim Black (Ed Note: Speaker Black has since been convicted of accepting cash to influence legislation, and no longer holds this position) must take up the legislation passed by the Senate to strengthen the integrity of our drivers' licenses by immediately halting the acceptance of taxpayer ID numbers as valid forms of identification.

Over 400,000 undocumented immigrants live in North Carolina and are responsible for an increasing number of drunk driving arrests in my district. We also see illegal immigrants contribute to gang activity and methamphetamine production. Across the state, we've seen illegal immigrants fill our schools, our hospitals, our roads, and even our jails at a cost that is choking our national and state economies.

The bottom line is that securing our borders is important for our economy and vital for our national security. Congress needs to take excuses off the table and get the job done.

December 3, 2007 -- Senator Fred Smith officially requests Attorney General Cooper to clarify the legal standing of admitting illegal aliens to NC Community colleges

November 16, 2006 -- Read the Senator's - Op-Ed on Immigration

View Fred's ad on illegal immigration here.