Speech #990275321

Chairman. this is the amendment to strike legalization or amnesty as it is known. It is not new to most of the Members. but I think it is very clearly the most significant amendment that will be offered to this bill. Many Members can vote for a strong employer sanction immigration reform bill if they do not have to swallow amnesty. This is a question that has been around for quite some time. It is a question the American public has great interest in. It is a question of confidence of the American public in our immigration system and immigration laws. Are we going to make that Statue of Liberty still shine forth as the beacon of hope to the rest of the world by regaining control of our borders and doing it the right way. or are we going to cause havoc with regard to the citizenry and quality of life of this country and not have the public support of our immigration laws? If we pass the amnesty that is in the legislation and do not adopt my amendment tonight. we are going to be slapping in the face the thousands and thousands of immigrants. wouldbe immigration waiting in line who have waited for years to come to this country legally. We are going to be rewarding lawbreakers. people who have been here illegally who have no business becoming citizens and permanent resident aliens well before those who stood in line and are still standing in line today in country after country after country wanting to come here in the faint hope they can share in our liberty. Another very important facet of why we should strike the amnesty provisions from this bill is the fact that if we leave them in here we are creating a reverse magnet and reversing that which we are doing in the employer sanction section of this bill. The reason why we want to make it illegal to knowingly hire an illegal alien is to cut off the magnet of the jobs attracting thousands. yea. millions of people to this country. If we leave amnesty in this bill. we are going to create another magnet that is going to draw them over here in the hope that they can get by with some fraudulent document or that we will give another opportunity down the road for amnesty if we have given it once. and it is wrong. There are a lot of reasons why. those are just three reasons why you should vote for this amendment this gentleman is offering. But the most. the singular most important reason is because if we leave amnesty in this bill we are going to take in millions and millions of immigrants in the next 10 years beyond the capacity of our institutions to absorb and assimilate them. The fact is. no one knows exactly how many illegals we have today in this country. But the estimates are very clearly on the higher side of the figures given.