Speech #990278963

He is all right. He is made whole in this bill. It does not address in any meaningful way the big pretext for this legislation. and that is the immigration problem that confronts the country. It guarantees that those who want to exploit cheap. foreign labor on farms and ranches can continue to do so with impunity. It guarantees that those who want to discriminate on the basis of race can do so with impunity. It solves the problem of the exploiters. and that is about it. To sweeten all of this. the report says that those who can prove that they have been here at a given magical date can become legalized through what has loosely been called an amnesty process. But many people who live in the world of the undocumented. which none of my colleagues are familiar with. closely associated with. or over a period of time. even knows the dimensions of its existence. It guarantees that those who want to discriminate on the basis of race can do so with impunity. It solves the problems of the exploiters. To sweeten all this the report says that folks who can prove they have lived here continuously since a magic date. can become legalized through an amnesty program. But how many people who live in the world of the undocumented will be able to produce the necessary documents? And what will those be? It is a cruel joke. It will produce a boom for those who will prey on people who need help to prove their cases. it will produce anguish for those who know they qualify but cant prove it. and it will not end the twilight existence of those who do not want to take the risks that are implicit with applying at all. As for the cost. the bill tells the States that they can have perhaps $1 billion to help meet the education. housing. and other needs of those who are eligible for amnesty. This would amount to a pittance compared to what was allocated for Cuban refugees or Southeast Asian refugees admitted under the Refugee Act. Even what little is allocated is largely taken back. since anything spent through Medicaid or the SSI Program would be counted against the total. The amount made available is not likely even to cover more than a fraction of the real cost of adjustment. Most important of all and most fatally. the bill fails to address in any way the real sources of the crisis that justifies its existence. The most basic cause of the problem is the mistake made 21 years ago in the Immigration Act of 1965. which placed an unrealistic ceiling on immigration from countries within the Western Hemisphere. From that day forward. legal entry became all but impossible for the vast majority of those who sought to come here because they could find work and freedom and dignity here. All that was required until that time was the showing of good character and the offer of a good job.