Speech #980219191

In the Senate it is 1980. in the House it is 1982. In conference a final date will be determined. As people come forward for legalization. trained immigration adjudicators and inspectors will determine the eligibility for legalization. I want to emphasize to my colleagues that this is a onetime legalization. The claim was made that we could handle this through the private bill process. Well. I can assure you. after 11 years on the Immigration Subcommittee. that if I stayed on it I would be the only Member of Congress who did. We would be inundated with hundreds of thousands of private bills on behalf of illegal aliens in the United States who had been here for several years. had Americanborn children or other equities and were resisting firmly any effort to be deported. Finally. there really is no humane alternative to legalization. There is no intention to have a roundup. The Immigration Service and the Department of Justice neither have the resources nor the disposition to go into a nationwide search. On the positive side. legalization helps enforcement. Legalizing some will allow us to concentrate our attention on people with less attachments to the United States and on preventing future illegal entries and visa abuses by limiting access to the work force. Longterm illegal aliens undoubtedly will fight removal. Having to deal with these people through deportation hearings. possible detention. and judicial review would do nothing but take time and money that could be better directed at other enforcement targets. Finally. Mr.