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This Bill is so Ridiculous that, According to the Republicans, Santa Claus Himself Would be a Criminal for Trekking from The North Pole to Deliver Holiday Gifts Without a Visa. WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The Leading Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), tonight condemned the border security legislation passed by the House of Representatives, calling it an "extremist" proposal that does nothing to fulfill the 9/11 Commissions recommendations or to secure our borders. "If we really want to protect our nation from terrorism and secure the border, we should be fulfilling the 9/11 Commissions recommendations, not passing extremist, anti-immigration proposals," said Thompson. Two weeks ago the former members of the 9/11 Commission released a report card on how well this Congress and Administration are fulfilling their recommendations to secure this country. The Commission gave numerous Ds and Fs, and only one A in the entire report. The House Homeland Security Committee originally passed bipartisan border security legislation that included a vital provision to finally require the Bush Administration to develop a comprehensive strategy for securing the border. However, the Republican leadership later added numerous anti-immigrant provisions that made the bill unacceptable. For example, for the first time ever, and with no exceptions, this bill makes being in the United States without proper documentation a federal crime. "This bill is so ridiculous that, according to the Republicans, Santa Claus himself would be a criminal for trekking from the North Pole to deliver holiday gifts without a visa," added Thompson. "Instead of providing the guidelines and resources necessary to fix our long-broken immigration system and secure our borders, this bill is essentially devoid of the practical tools our nation needs to fix these problems," said Congressman Silvestre Reyes, (D-TX). "It has been over four years since September 11th, and we need real action, not rhetoric. It is shameful that the political will does not exist to create a bi-partisan, comprehensive approach to immigration and border security, because such a system is long overdue. The safety and security of our nation is too important to play politics." Thompson and others joined in support of a motion to recommit Rep. Reyes offered that would have forced the Republicans to fulfill many 9/11 Commission recommendations and take the steps needed to secure the border, including: * Recreating the 9/11 Commission on a permanent basis to evaluate anti-terrorism measures taken since 9/11; * Providing 12,000 more Border Patrol agents and 8,000 additional Immigrations and Customs Enforcement inspectors by the year 2010; * Putting a system of personnel, cameras, sensors, aerial vehicles and barriers in place to cover 100% of the border; and * Ending "catch and release" policies by providing sufficient detention beds.