Speech #970223895

Mr. President. I am delighted that today the Senate begins its consideration of S. 2222. a bill to reform our immigration laws and policies. The need to act is clear. We know that our immigration laws have not been examined in any comprehensive way in years. We know the events of recent years have underscored the shortcomings of our current laws. We know that both legal and illegal immigration are at unprecedented levels. Our current laws set a cap of 270.000 a year. However. over 800.000 people legally immigrated into the United States in 1980. and over 600.000 in While legal immigration is a serious problem. illegal immigration presents an even more serious problem. It is estimated that there are between 3.5 million and 6 million illegal immigrants in the United States. The very fact that we have that kind of a variant is indicative of the kind of problems we have. We know that was the estimate that was made in 1978. Goodness knows how much it has risen in the last 4 years. or how much it will continue to rise unless we reform our policies. In fact. the reports of the Judiciary Committee indicate that the immigration. legal and illegal. is now amounting to 30 to 50 percent of the annual population growth in the United States. Those figures show us that our present immigration policy is. in fact. not a policy at all. As a result of todays absence of policy. the United States. for all of its power and richness as a nation is unable to control one of the most fundamental aspects of national sovereignty. the ability to control our borders. Mr. President. the issues. serious as they are. remain an abstract concern to many of the citizens of this country. They read about the Haitian situation in Florida. they have seen pictures of the Mariel boatlift. they have seen pictures of the boat people from Cambodia. they come across some news about immigration from Mexico and Latin America. But. by an large. their daily lives have not been affected by the immigration crisis that the country is facing. That is not the case. Mr. President. with the people in my home State of Florida. Floridians have felt and. more importantly. continue to feel the impact of uncontrolled immigration which our present laws have created. First. Florida had to contend with the Mariel boatlift. and the absence of U.S. policy which enabled Castro to force us to accept inmates of his prisons and mental institutions along with those fleeing his oppressive regime.