Speech #980109056

Leaders of Hispanic organizations opposed the bill and he does not want to jeopardize the traditional loyalty of Hispanics to the Democratic party. In other words. with the 1984 campaign already under way. the day for nonpartisanship is over. Partisan politics is back and immigration reform is cooked until 1985. That means Americas immigration policy will continue to be a big wink. Illegal aliens will keep streaming in past the pitifully overworked Immigration Service. Americans will turn even more cynical and nativist and sentiment to curtail all immigration will continue to rise. Slam the door. people will say. and that. Mr. Speaker. is apt to be a position with a lot of constituents. Those are the remarks of the New York Times today and I think they make a fair remark and express a concern that I have often expressed on this floor. and that is the immigration problem is not going to go away. We have more people who are undocumented or illegal. whatever you want to call them. who are coming across our borders every single day. We will for the first time in history this past year have more than a million arrests on the southern border alone. That means between 2 and 4 million successful entries into the United States illegally and it is growing and it is growing and it is growing.