I thank my colleague from Iowa. I want to voice my support for his legalization amendment. and express my admiration for the chairman of the subcommittee who has worked so long and so hard to make this a fair bill. I consider the limited legalization program he proposes to be fair and a reasonable attempt to reduce substantially the everincreasing number of illegal aliens. I am convinced that the overwhelming majority of this Nations citizens are unwilling to accept a near blanket amnesty for those who entered the United States in blatant disregard of our immigration laws. It would be patently unfair to the taxpayers of this country to enact a legalization program which is estimated to cost for fiscal years 1983 to 1990 $26 billion in Federal. State. and local tax dollars. a program which would also be unfair to the thousands of foreign nationals. perhaps more certainly potential hard workers. who have waited patiently through the present backlog of visa applications in order to enter this country through legal procedures. The Grassley amendment is stringent enough to avoid rewarding lawbreakers and to discourage further illegal immigration. The amendment is expected to cut nearly $21 billion in the anticipated costs that I mentioned previously. an 80percent savings. I urge my distinguished colleagues to accept this compromise position.
Keywords matched
immigration illegal immigration visa illegal aliens