Speech #970223888

Mr. President. I want to express my very sincere appreciation and respect for the Senator from Wyoming. who has been the chairman of the Immigration Subcommittee. for the tireless work he has done on this particular subject which has enormous importance for this country here at home and in our relations abroad particularly in the Western Hemisphere. This generally. Mr. President. is not what we call a front burner issue. Perhaps in the minds of many Americans it is. but I would say. given the general conditions we are facing here at home with the state of our economy and other challenges overseas and in our foreign policy. that this generally would not be considered an issue of that particular magnitude. But it is an issue of enormous importance because what we do on the issue of immigration says a great deal about the kind of society that we are and that we want to become. The issue of immigration is a public policy question which is as old as this Nation. and I think the Senator from Wyoming pointed it out very well. and I would certainly agree. that it has been over the history of this Nation one which has reflected the proud instincts of our country and our people but has also reflected the rather darker aspects of our Nations people. Mr. President. as the Senate initiates debate today on S. 2222. the Immigration Reform and Control Act. I want to take this opportunity to note the historic significance of our undertaking todayas well as to commend the unflagging dedication and leadership of Senator SIMPSON in moving forward this long overdue effort to achieve immigration reform. The action we begin today marks the first significant effort by the Senate to reform our Nations immigration laws since the major reforms of 1965which I was honored to manage on the Senate floor. The 1965 act finally removed from our laws the discriminatory national origins quota system and the notorious AsianPacific triangle provisionsperhaps the most discriminatory laws ever enacted by the U.S. Congress. Until today. there has been no general effort to restructure our immigration laweven though we took a major step in 1980 in reforming our laws on the admission and resettlement of refugees. In 1978. Congress acted to lay the basis for the reforms we are considering today. when we established the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy. As the chief Senate sponsor of the legislation creating the Select Commission. I did so in the hope that it would finally bring some highlevel study and review of our outdated immigration laws. which previous executive branch interagency task forces had failed to achieve. and which Congress had failed to address. It was also clear then that immigration was becoming a controversial issue. clouded by misunderstandings and false stereotypes. and overwhelmed by the fear of illegal immigrationall to the detriment of legal immigration. Suddenly. one of the oldest themes in our Nations history was becoming one of our most contentious and misunderstood public policy issues. In part. this was a product of the timesa reflection of our preoccupation with stubborn and increasingly critical domestic and international challenges. But part of the problem derives as well from our existing immigration law. which is a generation out of date. After 2 years of workafter 12 regional hearings around the country. dozens of consultations and exhaustive researchthe Select Commission. under the chairmanship of Father Ted Hesburgh of Notre Dame. filed its recommendations with the President and Congress in March 1981. These recommendations have largely formed the basis for the bill we are considering today. And this is due. Mr. President. in no small part to the efforts of my distinguished colleague and chairman of our Subcommittee on Immigration and Refugee Policy. Senator SIMPsON. He served. as I did. on the Select Commission. He was immersed. as I was. in the complex and difficult Immigration issues we confronted during our 2year review. We sat together. all day in a room not far from here in the Capitol with 14 other commissionersincluding our colleagues. Senator DECONcINI and Senator MATHIASand we wrestled from 9 a.m. in the morning until late that night. over many of the immigration issues contained in the bill before us today. To Senator SIMPSONS credit. following the submission of the Select Commissions recommendations. he took them and moved them forward. He initiated. along with congressman MAZZOLI. the first joint hearings between the two immigration subcommittees of the House and Senate in more than 30 years. And he launched a yearlong series of hearings to listen to all sides to this controversial issue. Having joined him in many of those hearingsas well as in the numerous consultations we have held with representatives of the executive branch. the voluntary agencies and other interested groupsI know firsthand of the dedicated and thoughtful work he has devoted to the development of this bill. And I want to commend him for it. As ranking minority member of the subcommittee I have been honored to work closely with him. in a bipartisan effort to achieve immigration reforms based upon reason. fairness. and careful study. We have attempted to review immigration policy in light of Americas best interest. yet with full regard for our immigrant heritage and our humanitarian traditions. We have rejectedas we must continue to rejectcalls for harsh and discriminatory enforcement of our immigration laws. including the deputizing of local police officers to enforce our complex immigration policies. We have rejected cruel and racist calls against immigrationof using immigrants and undocumented aliens as scapegoats for some of the problems our Nation faces todayproblems that have nothing to do with immigration. We have rejected calls to drastically reduce our annual immigration quotas or to restrict the admission of refugeessometimes from the very people who also call for the establishment of a massive temporary worker program. And we have rejected calls that we should begin the mass deportation of undocumented aliens who have been leading productive lives in our country for many years. The Judiciary Committee rejected all of these proposals. Mr.