Speech #970022153

Inflation is is about 12 percent and unemployment is reaching 9 percent. In light of this situation. American society has fewer opportunities for its own people not accounting for immigrants who wish to enter and live in the United States. The country must realize that its ability to accept immigrants. like its ability to consume foreign oil has limits and must be controlled. Presently. the United States has very little control over its immigration policy. We as a nation are accepting more immigrants now than in any other time in American history. There are two loopholes in the present immigration policy that have allowed this situation to exist. The first loophole is in the 1980 Refugee Act. This act sets a limit of 50.000 refugees to be admitted in any one year. However. the President is able to increase this ceiling to allow many more refugees into the country. As a result. over 231.000 refugees entered the United States last year. Most of these people will be granted permanent resident status. To make matters worse the impact of this influx of people is not equally spread throughout the country. but concentrated in pockets such as Miami. Fla.. and Seattle. Wash. Specifically these refugees are eligible for most public subsidy programs like food stamps and aid to families with dependent children. This has put a great strain on these areas of the country where refugees tend to migrate. In addition. the Federal Government has no system to process refugees that arrive in large numbers. This situation creates unrest and resentment between the refugees and the communities where they live. The second loophole in the immigration policy is the enforcement of the laws controlling the influx of illegal aliens. In 1980. it is estimated that between 100.000 and 500.000 illegal aliens entered and stayed in the United States. Illegal aliens come to the United States to find better employment opportunities than what is available in their home countries. This influx of people has been so great that illegals have begun to directly and indirectly displace legal residents from