Speech #990084581

Mr. President. I rise today to voice my support for the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1985. which is presently pending before the Senate. The enactment of this very important legislation has been long overdue. I have supported similar measures in the 97th and 98th Congresses and I continue to believe that this legislation is in the national interest of the United States. No other country in the world accepts or resettles the numbers of immigrants that the United States accepts. We can be proud of this heritage and of our commitment to the principles that are so eloquently enunciated in the words etched in stone on one of this countrys most beautiful monumentsthe Statue of Liberty. Those words describe the open arms of this country that still extend to the "huddled masses" yearning to breathe the free air of democracy. Reform of our immigration laws does not mean that the United States will isolate itself from the world. It simply means that this Government has a responsibility to allow immigration to occur in an orderly and lawful fashion with a sense of fairness and reasonableness. For years. we have known that immigration into this country has been out of control and no action has been taken to reform our badly outdated immigration laws. I am hopeful that the House will now proceed with. and pass. a comprehensive immigration measure during this 99th Congress. We all recognize that the first duty of a sovereign nation is to control and protect its borders. and it is time that we met that responsibility. Immigration into this countrylegal and illegalnow exceeds over 750.000 per year and accounts for 30 to 50 percent of our annual population growth. No one disputes that immigrants have been the building blocks of this country. The problem arises when immigration is in violation of the law and that we have no programs to assimilate new immigrants. Net illegal immigration is estimated at 500.000 per year. or over twothirds of all immigration. Should illegal immigration continue unabated by the year 2025. some 100 million of the estimated 300 million people in the United States will be post1980 immigrants. We need to get contol of this influx for many reasons. Most importantly. we need to know how our country is changing. The Select Commission of Immigration has estimated the number of illegal immigrants in this country to be between 3.5 to 6 million. This figure represents data that was compiled 7 years ago. Surely. there are many more illegal immigrants in this country today than in 1978. In a recent expost on immigration in the United States. Time magazine reported that there may be as many as 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States. The point. Mr. President. is that we dont know. Not only are we not aware of the number of illegal immigrants. we do not know how many of these immigrants have displaced American workers. Nor do we know how much the U.S. Government spends in health care. education. and other social services for illegal immigrants. While many have argued that lack of data is a reason to postpone immigration reform. I contend it is the very reason why we must proceed with this legislation. It is essential in the responsible management of our economy and of fiscal policy that we know the full extent of illegal immigration. There have been many concerns that we not enact a bill designed to control the influx of illegal immigrants that may be discriminatory or a bill that is inconsistent with our longstanding tradition of providing refuge for the downtrodden. I share these concerns. yet I am pleased that over the many years that immigration reform has been considered and the many hours of hearings and testimony on these questions. a bill has been put together that addresses these concerns. I congratulate my colleagues who have worked so many hours on a bill that will be fair. yet effective. Again. I urge the Senate to adopt this legislation so that we may deal effectively with a problem that grows increasingly harder to solve every year. The United States accepts and is honored by the fact that freedom and democracy are attractive to people throughout the world. Yet. with that. we must also accept our last responsibility to the citizens of this country. to the thousands of legal immigrants. and to the untold millions of illegal immigrants. to forge a fair and effective policy to stem the rising tide of illegal immigration and equalize the opportunity this bountiful land provides for all.