Speech #970226790

I voted against Senate passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act because I do not believe this bill offers an acceptable response to our Nations immigration problems. This legislation fails to adequately deal with the increasing number of illegally employed aliens. Also. since we have inaccurate and highly speculative estimates regarding the number of undocumented aliens already in the United States. the conflicting policies in this bill with respect to various immigration preference categories are difficult to assess for reasonableness. As the bill stands. the immediate relatives of U.S. citizens are included under the annual numerical ceilings. but the families of permanent resident aliens are weakened by the disqualification for relative preference of adult unmarried sons and daughters. and no provision is made for brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens. S. 2222 in its present form does not adequately address the very difficult questions of how to control the flow of immigrantsboth legal and illegalinto this country in a manner which Is both fair and effective. and which protects the principle of family reunification in our immigration law.*