Speech #980000800

Mr. President. yesterdays Washington Post contained a frontpage story belaboring the obvious: the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is so badly understaffed that it cannot do its job. Every member of this body that has given 10 minutes of thought or study to the problem of illegal immigration knows that the INS cannot be expected to enforce the immigration laws with the funds it is given. The flow of illegal immigrants has increased tenfold or more in the last decade. Despite reported pleas for help from INS officials. Congress has refused to find meaningful increases in INS enforcement resources. even though the necessary funds could be raised by user fees charged aliens entering our Nation legally. Some people are looking for an easy way to "solve" the problem without arresting and repatriating illegal aliens. Thus. the calls for an amnesty to "wipe the slate clean." The sad truth is that Congress is unwilling to enforce the laws of the land. Vociferous special interest groups and a sympathetic news media stand ready to scream "police state" should any real attempt be made to enforce our laws. That threat is apparently enough to prevent any effort to enforce the generous and fair immigration laws of this Nation. I am ready to increase INS funding. Perhaps if my colleagues will read Mr. Adam A. Dobrins story in the Washington Post. they will decide to join me. I ask that the article entitled "Area Aliens Use Legal Tangle To Block Deportation by INS" be printed in the REcom.