Speech #980213824

Chairman. I would like to make a brief explanation. This amendment sets forth two essential elements of immigration control and reform. First of all. it increases the border patrol and other enforcement activities of the Immigration Service. It also prevents and will deter illegal entry into the United States. The second and most important part of this amendment is that it provides the necessary funds to increase the service activities of INS throughout the country. I think that this is one of the most important items in this bill because it is in effect immigration reform. In providing the necessary funds for the Department of Immigration to do its work. we make it then necessary for this Department to put in place the necessary personnel to service the people of the United States. There are thousands upon thousands of individuals throughout this Nation who today cannot adjust their status and they could do so if only given the opportunity of an audience with INS. Mr. Chairman. those of us who know the situation. with regard to the Department of Immigration and their inability to cope with the problem at the present time. know that we do have a good Department of Immigration with a staff that is not large enough and an agency with insufficient funds to do their work. In the city of Los Angeles. for example. as well as in other large cities of the United States. we find that there are thousands of people almost on a daily basis that try to get some help from the Department of Immigration. but. when they get to that window after lining up all night. they are met by two clerks to take care of thousands. In Los Angeles people sleep on the sidewalk. in a Federal building. Sunday night. in order to be first in line on Monday morning. That clearly indicates that the Department of Immigration is not serving the general public. The other thing that this amendment does is provide sufficient funds for border patrol and other enforcement activities. It improves immigration and naturalization service throughout the country. but it also enhances community outreach. My amendment provides for the strengthening of the Community Outreach Program which is housed in the Adjudication and Naturalization Sections of INS. This program directs the Attorney General to provide personnel at the district level in order to assist in the provision of service. particularly naturalization services. Now. this is what the Department of Immigration is supposed to have been doing all these years. and they have not done that because of lack of money and because of lack of personnel. What we do. then. is put money into this process. Under this amendment. we establish an antismuggling program. My amendment would direct the Attorney General. together with the Secretary of State to initiate discussions with Mexico and Canada to establish formal bilateral programs with those countries to prevent and to prosecute the smuggling of undocumented aliens into the United States. This is immigration reform. It seems to me that this is an amendment that should be adopted. I realize. Mr. Chairman. that it is going to be a little expensive. But if we are going to have in place an immigration bill of any kind. we have to provide funds for the Department of Immigration to do their job. They claim that they have lost control of the borders. and they have. And they have done that simply because they have had only the personnel that is necessary to do a halfway job. They are not providing the necessary help for people whose status can be adjusted. simply because they do not have the personnel. And if anyone in this House is in doubt that the Department of Immigration today has the distinction of being the most discourteous department in the entire Federal bureaucracy. just give them a call sometime. The reason for that is that they are so overwhelmed with work that they cannot possibly take a few moments to be courteous to the general public. I believe.