Speech #980256089

Mr. Speaker. Congress has very few responsibilities as serious as overseeing and reforming our Immigration laws and protecting the integrity of our borders. As Representative DANumr LUNoPi convincingly demonstrates in the following article from the Washington Post of September 10. enacting the SimpsonMazzoll immigration bill before we adjourn may be "the last feasible opportunity in this decade for Congress to act on urgently needed immigration reform." I commend to all my colleagues the succinct analysis and recommendation on SimpsonMazzoli by the gentleman from California. It is must reading: [Prom the Washington Post. Monday. Sept. 10. 1984] ImmoIATiON Rioimu: IF NOT Now. WmN? (By Daniel E. Lungren) As Congress prepares to conclude Its final four weeks of the remaining regular session. we have begun a legislative version of the old TV show "Beat the Clock." The question is whether Congress will enact the SimpsonMaszoll Immigration bill before it adjourns. The few remaining legislative days may provide the last feasible opportunity in this decade for Congress to act on urgently needed immigration reform. And. Just as important. the outcome of this legislative exercise may answer the larger question of whether Congress Is still capable of adequately dealing with any of the urgent national issues of the day. Currently pending before a HouseSenate conference committee is a carefully balanced and comprehensive immigration reform package. representing the bipartisan efforts of private citizens. members of Congress and four presidents. Few bills have recelved the devotion of effort and scrutiny that SimpsonMazzoli has. Not only has the concept of the measure evolved from a presidential commission to hearings. markup and debate of committees in both houses during two consecutive congresses. it has also withstood repeated and varied attempts to kill or dilute it. We have come much too far on the road to immigration reform to fail once again in the waning days of another Congress. Moreover. should the exhaustive legislative investment already expended be in vain. policy makers will face an even greater Pandoras box. The alternatives to this substantive reform of our immigration laws are largely untenable. No member of Congress can defend the status quo on immigration. The present situation is neither in the national interest nor in the interest of those undocumented persons who all too often find themselves beyond the protection of our laws. afraid to report crime or seek medical assistance. The option of Increasing enforcement alone is similarly deficient. It is simply not feasible to surround 5.000 miles of border with enforcement personnel. Any return to a mass deportation such as "Operation Wetback" of 1954 would almost certainly entail gross violations of civil liberties and. I fear. would forever scar the fabric of our society. Additionally. I do not believe the American people would tolerate housetohouse searches and neighborhood sweeps attendant to any true effort "to round up and send home" all the illegal aliens now in the United States. The suggestion that increased outlays on foreign assistance is somehow an answer in itself is also insufficient. As worthy as I know the goal to be. assisting developing countries in this hemisphere is a longterm proposition.