Speech #980217675

Now lets look at whats wrong with amnesty and why the American people want it stricken from this bill and why the majority of this body should vote to delete it altogether. First of all. granting legal status to millions who were here on January 1. 1982. or January 1. 1980. as in the Lungren amendment. either one. would be a slap in the face to the milllions who have stood in line around the world for years waiting to come to this country legally. We have been taking in on the average somewhere between 450.000 and 500.000 immigrants legally each year for the past few years. plus refugees. There are anywhere from 3 to 12 million illegals who could come forward in 1 year and gain a status leading to citizenship if the legalization provisions remain. That is just not right. It is a reward to lawbreakers and is very unfair to those who have stood in line for their opportunity to come legally. Second. the passage of the immigration bill with the amnesty provisions in it will be a magnet that will encourage thousands. possibly millions more. to come across our borders in the hope that they can fake thier way and fool the authorities with fraudulent documents in order to qualify under the provisions of this bill or in the belief that once we have given this oneshot amnesty. we will give it again in a few years. as has happened numerous times in the past. This new magnet will draw others across the border. it will neuter the employer sanctions provisions of this bill which are designed to eliminate the magnet of jobs and the economic rewards that pull people here. Additionally. the legalization provisions will distort the existing balance in our immigration laws. Some counties in regions of the world from which most of the illegals have come will have placed far. far more than their proportional share would normally allow into the stream of immigrants programmed to become American citizens. This not only means a dramatic change in our historical patterns and mix of immigration to our country. but it also means a great potential future distortion in these patterns as those who are grandfathered in by the legalization provisions become citizens and thereby automatically make many relatives eligible under our present preference system in the legal immigration laws. This multiplier effect could be enormous. Lastly. there is an undeterminable expense to American taxpayers involved in any amnesty program.