Speech #980214517

I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman. if a ceiling of 450.000 became law. it should be noted that the United States would still be admitting more immigrants and refugees for permanent residence than the rest of the world combined. This amendment would not reduce the level of legal immigration to the United States. It would simply cap it at current levelsactually allowing some room for growthto keep legal immigration from rising indefinitely. This amendment would not close the golden door. it would simply allow the United States to make a rational judgment as to how wide we open that golden door. The United States admits almost as many legal immigrants from Mexico alone. and more legal immigrants from the Carribean alone. as we do from all of Europe. Now some will contend that we already have a legal immigration ceiling of 270.000 per year. Such an assertion does not square with reality. This ceiling applies only to the numerically limited preference system. regardless of how many other people come in. This might help explain why we admitted 400.000 legal immigrants in 1976. 600.000 in 1978. and 800.000 in Bear in mind that this amendment will not affect refugees or immediate relatives of U.S. citizens. However. by offsetting the number of immediate relatives admitted against the numbers granted preference visas. this amendment does represent a first step toward establishing a coherent policy on legal immigration. The pressures to migrate to the United States are rising in the developing countries. Unless we take steps now to exert some kind of control over our legal immigration policy. the figures I have just cited for you may increase astronomically. If we enact the legalization program provided in this bill. we will be granting legal permanent resident status to between 3 and 12 million illegal aliens. and some estimates run higher. In our attempt to deal with the problem of past immigration by including amnesty for illegal immigrants already here. we are ignoring the consequences it will have on future immigration. I am speaking of the phenomenon of chain migration. Once we make millions of illegal aliens legal residents. they will be eligible to bring in spouses and unmarried sons and daughters under the preference system. Family reunification is a longstanding goal in this country and one I continue to support. But if we are suddenly going to have several million people given legal resident status. we must take some time to look at what the impact of that amnesty will be. How will if affect our ability to provide social services. health care. housing. and above all. jobs. to both our own citizens and the newly legalized aliens? Can we absorb virtually unlimited legal immigration on top of unhampered illegal immigration? No. I reiterate that this amendment will not affect refugees or immediate relatives of U.S. citizens. There is still no limit on the numbers of these people who can join their families in the United States. Furthermore. Chairman MAZZOLI. Chairman RODINO. and the members of the Judiciary Committee have wisely included a comprehensive reporting requirement to assess the impact of immigration on the United States. Every 3 years the President will report on the effect of immigration on the economy. labor. housing market. education. foreign policy. environment. resources. and population growth. This report will also include recommendations on future admissions levels. Therefore. while this amendment will establish a generous and flexible ceiling on legal immigration immediately. it also. and more importantly. will permit us to alter that ceiling once we have assessed the impact across the broad range of our society. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.