Speech #980049086

I believe we must admit that during this century. and especially since the 1950s. the United States has. by its actions and failures to act. opted for the temporary stability provided by dictatorships and oligarchical control in various parts of the Western Hemisphere. We chose this easy and expedient course rather than using our very considerable influence to urge and assist those nations to form and reinforce democratic institutions and traditions. establish judicial systems worthy of the name. and encourage economic development efforts that would bring benefits to all of their people. Today we have an estimated 4 to 6 million illegal aliens in the country. and. while nobody really knows the true number. an estimated 10.000 Latin American illegal aliens are successful in crossing the MexicoUnited States border each day. More border guards will not stop that flow. Boatloads of Haitians are illegally arriving on our shores. and an estimated 9 percent of all Salvadorans are already living in this countrymost illegally. Population increases in Latin America are the highest in the world. Modern communications and transportation have acted. respectively. to accentuate the rising expectations of our impoverished southern neighbors and provide the means for arriving on our shores or crossing our southern border to take a chance on matching those expectations. With a connecting land mass we were never a secure island redoubt against illegal aliens. and we are less so with every passing day. Yet. who among us in this Nation of immigrants can truly fail to understand their compelling drive to exchange a life of hunger. disease. illiteracy. violence. and general hopelessness for the American dream? There is a limit. however. as to how many immigrants and refugees we can successfully assimilate each year. even if we are just counting those arriving here through legal methods. Our high unemployment rate and long recession severely test the patience. and the generous. humane spirit of our people. We are. I believe. just seeing the beginning of a crushing tide of illegal alien landing on our shores. Beefing up our INS Border Patrol would make only a marginal difference: we can not employ enough people to stop the increasing numbers of desperate and determined inhabitants of Mexico. Central America. and the Caribbean. It does.