Speech #990080223

Mr. President. I would like to commend Senator SImPSON once again for his patience and diligence in trying to achieve some control over immigration to this country. We all have realized that this is an extremely difficult issue and also one with extremely important consequences. No one has worked harder on this issue than Senator SIMPsON and I share his disappointment that we were not successful in getting a bill to the Presidents desk last Congress. Approximately 30 years have passed since the last major reform of U.S. immigration policy. The time has arrived to undergo this painful process again. Theodore H. White described the situation in which America finds itself resulting from our current set of chaotic complicated immigration laws: One starts with the obvious: That the United States has lost one of the cardinal attributes of sovereigntyit no longer controls its own borders. Its immigration laws are flouted by aliens and citizens alike. as no system of laws has been flouted since prohibition. And the impending transformation of our nation. its culture. and its ethnic heritage could become one of the central debates of the politics of the 1980s. See White. America in Search of Itself. p.361 (1982). The debate has already begun and let us hope that S. 1200 is just the first step in the reformation process. Though most Americans currently residing in the United States owe their presence here to the open door immigration policies of the past. the perpetuation of the myth that this country is one without limits can only prove harmful in the long run. Technology is one of the major reasons why todays immigration phenomenon is entirely different from the immigration waves of the past. As Mr. White continued to explain: The earlier immigrants from Europe spent weeks trekking to ports. and then more weeks in the steerage of tramp steamers. to reach the promised land. A modem immigrant can be here or there in four hours from any airport in the Caribbean. in fifteen hours from Asia. .. It once took years of work and savings for an honest man to buy passage for his family to join him. Now after six months a diligent immigrant can afford air passage for all the rest of his family. The result has been a stampede. almost an invasion. supra. pp. 361362. America currently accepts over twice as many legal immigrants as the rest of the world combined. This does not include the estimated 3 to 6 million aliens illegally in the country. Control of our borders is essential in order to protect U.S. citizens from a continued high unemployment rate and to foster a reliance on our laws by those outside our country who wish to reside here. The Immigration Reform and Control Act is a wellconceived product which may go far in achieving our badly needed reforms. The provisions of the bill relating to employer sanctions. increased interior and border enforcement and a secure worker eligibility identity system are necessary to regain control over our borders. Though the concept of legalization has been one of the most hotly debated aspects of the bill. I believe that legalization in some form is not only in the best interests of those undocumented aliens already firmly residing here but for the citizenry of our country as well. A large undocumented population contributes to the creation and perpetuation of an exploited subclass society afraid to report crimes and illnesses which endanger the public health. A variety of legalization programs were presented to the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy. a bipartisan group established by the Carter administration to study solutions to our immigration problems. and the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and Refugee Policy ranging from a massive deportation program to total amnesty for all aliens upon enactment of the bill. The Select Commissions final report stated that it was guided by two major principles in developing its legalization recommendations: First. the legalization program should be consistent with U.S. interests. and Second. the program should not encourage further undocumented migration. The approach adopted by S. 1200. is consistent with these goals. This provision provides that illegal aliens who have resided continuously in the United States since January 1. 1980. are eligible for temporary resident status upon enactment of the bill. These aliens will be eligible to apply for permanent resident status 2V years following their grant of temporary status. In addition. these residents are ineligible for all Federal assistance programs such as AFDC. food stamps.