Speech #990274883

Speaker. the gentleman from Mississippi said it eloquently: If not now. when? We are in a crisis. we have been in a crisis. In 1972 when this problem first began to fester. 200.000 undocumented aliens were apprehended trying to enter the country. Today. 1986. 14 years later. after having failed to address the problem. nearly 2 million undocumented aliens have been apprehended during this past year coming into the country. The number who are not apprehended is unknown. though many believe that only one out of every three attempted undocumented entries are detected. It is estimated. though there is no exact figure. that there may be as many as 8 to 12 million undocumented persons in the country. How can we live with this problem? How can we not address it? If we do not address it now. when? The bill before us addresses the problem in two ways: One. by providing sanctions so that the employer who. up until now. has acted with impunity. will no longer be able to knowingly hire the undocumented person. two legalization. so that the millions who now live in servitude. as my friend. the gentleman from New Mexico. has described. will be given the opportunity to be eligible for lawful residency. and. if they choose. eventually citizenship. It is a miracle that we have been able to bring diverse forces together to craft an agricultural compromise worthy of everyones support. I hope that the previous question is not voted down. and I hope that the rule is adopted. and I hope that we have passage of this very critical measure today. Mr. Speaker. all of us who have worked so hard for immigration reform were greatly disappointed when our recent efforts to get the bill to the House floor proved unsuccessful. Rather than resign ourselves to letting the 99th Congress expire without a House vote on the immigration reform bill. I decided to convene a series of meetings to determine whether anything could be done to resolve the problems that prevented us from bringing this urgently needed legislation to the floor. We have held a number of meetings. including discussions with Members of the other body.