Mr. President. I should like to express my support for the immigration control and reform bill. S. 529. I believe that this is one of the most important pieces of legislation that will be brought before this Congress. and it is imperative that we act on it. Without this legislation. the United States will continue to experience an uncontrolled migration across our borders that is not in our best interest. Since 1975. I have been urging Congress to pass immigration control legislation that would maintain our historic generosity while establishing enforceable limits. In 1981. I introduced a comprehensive immigration control bill. S. 776. which would have accomplished this goal. Many of the concepts and solutions in that bill found their way into S. 2222. which the Senate passed overwhelmingly last year. Although S. 2222 died in the House. it is now back before us in the form of S. 529. which we will vote on today. The members of the Immigration Subcommittee and its distinguished chairman. Senator SIMPSON. are to be commended for the time and effort they have put into producing this workable piece of legislation. The chairman is deserving of special praise. Without his leadership and persistence. I do not believe that we would be this close to success on an immigration control bill. Even though we differ on some of the solutions. I believe he has created a bill which is both fair and effective. The American people owe a great debt of gratitude to Senator SIMPSON for bringing to bear his determination and wisdom on this crucial issue. The most important feature of this bill is its solution to the illegal alien problem. At present. there are at least 10 million illegal aliens in the United States. and that number is steadily increasing. At this time. there is. for all practical purposes. no border between Mexico and the United States. Massive numbers of people illegally cross this border daily. and as foreign political and economic problems increase. so too. do the numbers of illegals entering the United States.
Keywords matched
Immigration immigration illegal alien illegal aliens