I should mention in that meeting the President said. "Look. we have a full plate here on this end of Pennsylvania Avenue. I know you have a full plate at your end of Pennsylvania Avenue. But one thing we have to keep on our plates is the question of immigration reform. It is too important not to do it." In fact. on the question of money. I recall the President saying. "Yes. it will cost us money. but I think it will cost us more in the long run if we do not have comprehensive immigration reform than any cost we would bear in the short run from implementing the immigration reform package." On the very next day. March 12. 1986. Attorney General Meese testified on the Department of Justice authorization before the House Committee on the Judiciary. and at that time he specifically reiterated in his opening statement the Presidents support for immigration reform. He mentioned the meeting on the day before as did Chairman RODINO. That was March. In April Attorney General Edwin Meese telephoned Chairman RODINO in Newark. NJ. to urge him to schedule full committee markup. On April 18. there was a letter from John Bolton of the Justice Department on behalf of the Justice Department in which he indicated a followup to the April 4 telephone conversation and talked about support for immigration reform. but it also articulated the administrations opposition to overall exemption of coverage of employer sanctions to the industry of agriculture. The letter follows:
Keywords matched
immigration