Speech #980000820

But they do not want their generosity abused. Those who try to fool the system. get an advantage over others. force their way into this country. should not be rewarded. because that is what makes the American people really angry. At present. that is what is happening in immigration: The system is being run by the immigrants and by those who profit from disarray. Our immigration policies are not being set in Washington. they are being set in Hanoi. in Havana. in Tehran. and in a thousand other foreign cities. Some lawyers and wellmeaning but misguided persons who want no limits to admissions of one group or another are combining to thrust wedges into the workings of the system. forcing it to a halt. injuring all of those who want to respect our laws and come here legally. To a large extent they have succeeded. According to INS officials. our immigration laws are no longer an effective deterrent to Illegal immigration. Not all of these people are outside this Government. There are numerous people. particularly in the Department of State. who believe that wideopen immigration is a means to build their bureaucratic power. whatever the consequences to the country. There are others who want only to keep the status quo. bad though it is. because they lack the courage to solve any of the problems. And. there are those who ignore the plight of Americas poor and unemployed. in the mistaken belief that immigrants deserve more consideration than poor blacks. Hispanics or whites who are citizens of this country. Perhaps. Mr. President. that is what galls me the most about this tortuously slow process of immigration reform: That those with these delusions of purifying America through unlimited immigration. of more docile and cheaper workers through immigration. of personal gains no matter what the effect on poor Americans. have been able to stop urgently needed immigration legislation. Well. that must change. This is the year for us to act. We again can look forward to recommendations from Senator SIMPSON and others. We will again have the chance to act on proposals for change. for order and rationality in immigration. for regaining control over immigration. Mr. President. we have some "windows of opportunity" this year. First. we will receive again recommendations from Senator SIMPSON. second. we must reauthorize the Refugee Act of 1980. reforming it for the better with our 3 years of experience. In both instances we will have a chance to provide a realistic level of resources for enforcing the immigration laws. We must accept the challenge these opportunities provide. We must act this year. We must do something about immigration. Mr. President. I believe that there are six basic things which must be accomplished during the year. First. we must prohibit the hiring of illegal immigrants in American jobs. Whether or not we can remove illegal immigrants already in American jobs. we certainly must reserve new jobs for unemployed Americans. With 12 million Americans currently unemployed. it would be a travesty to do otherwise. Second. we must Increase the resources available to enforce our immigration laws to a reasonable level. For several years we have cut back on immigration enforcement so that our interior enforcement. for example. is still below the 1978 level. We must provide enough border patrol officers. enough interior enforcement officers. enough adjudicators. and enough support so that the Immigration and Naturalization Service can do its job. And we must insure that the funds we provide are fully and wellspent. Third. we must control legal admissions to this country. at a generous level that is consistent with our national interest and needs. We cannot let legal admissions be used as a plaything for special interest groups and those who seek only profit from an overloaded system. Fourth. we must reform the Refugee Act of 1980 and its implementation. Despite years of criticism. the Department of State. reluctantly aided and abetted by officials of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. are still admitting thousands of aliens as refugees who do not qualify under the Refugee Acts definition. We now have 3 years of experience under the Refugee Act. we can see where the administration and its predecessor have made mistakes. and we can correct those mistakes. We can also start reducing the size of the refugee program which now costs U.S. taxpayers over $2 billion a year. And fifth. we can clear up the mess in immigration benefit adjudications. We have 150.000 asylum petitions pending in a system designed for only a few a year. We must clean up the problems in the system. and insure a fair. but fast and final decision on each asylum and immigration benefit petition. And we must be sure that the Immigration and Naturalization Service adjudicates each petition fully and accurately. not shirking its responsibility to insure that each applicant is eligible for what he or she seeks. Sixth. we must insure that any program to legalize the status of illegal aliens already in the United States is executed by an Immigration and Naturalization Service committed to carrying out its duty to protect the American people. even if this means scrapping the preliminary policies drafted by the INS which would accept an applicant for legalization without any direct review by trained INS officers. Mr. President. because of the possibility that immigration reform will be caught up in election delays as soon as this fall. I believe that we must complete legislative action by the end of this year. If we do not meet this deadline. I fear that we will again have lost our chance to enact real immigration reform. Perhaps more importantly. I fear that. if we do not act this year. we will lose whatever momentum remains for rational immigration reform for several years to come. And. when we return to the issue. I fear that the issue will be dominated by demagogs and by those who are not so interested in open dialog. I do not want to travel that path. I would much rather that we simply got on with our present task. I want us to enact substantive. realistic immigration reform this year. So I urge my colleagues to help me. to help Senator SIMPSON. to help each other. and to help the country by acting quickly and forcefully to solve our immigration problems. And let us act before it is too late.e