Speech #980217789

Chairman. we are talking about amnesty or legalization. which represents the heart and the soul of this bill. Not only is amnesty important because of the fact that it is a humane policy. not only is it important because it dovetails with the best of our foreign policy. not only is it important because it is a continuation of the best of American traditions. and presents the best image of America. but it is important because it is the most practical provision in the bill. Let us consider for a moment the most important priorities in our immigration policies. We are first of all concerned about securing our borders. The problem we are faced with now with millions of illegal aliens is due to the fact that we failed to secure our borders properly in the first place or we allowed floods of people to come in with very sophisticated ways from Europe and other parts in the northern part and through the ports of entry and did not do the kind of job we should have done. 31.-059 O9740 1Pt. 121 In the case of immigration policy. an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It is like goodhealthprevention measures. If we take the proper preventive measures. we do not end up with the kind of disease that we have now. We are not faced with the kind of problem we are faced with and that is our first priority or should be our first priority. The resources that we have available must first be dedicated to securing the borders. We all know that we are not going to get unlimited resources for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The money that is needed to secure our borders should come first. Second. priority should go to those people who are seeking entry legally. who are in the country applying for legal status. My office is full every week with people who are here legally trying to get their papers completed. trying to complete the permanent residency and become citizens and there are not enough employees available to do it. Somebody mentioned before that in their area they are as much as a year and a half behind. I thought that was only the case with the Brooklyn section of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. but they are at least a year and a half behind. Priority should go to the people who are here legally. complete the process. The last thing we should be spending money for is the financing of shock troops and Gestapolike operations in the streets to root out the people who are here illegally.