Speech #990284166

But the question really boiled down to not just what we define as a threshold. but how we enforce it. I tried to come up with a way of expressing the concern of the people of my State. and I found a way to let them express their own concern. It just happens that last night on the ABC affiliate. that is channel 7 in El Paso. there was a news segment about the immigration bill. And it expressed a concern. And I would like to just read this little section and then express the concern and ask you again to be sure that we have clear legislative history of our intent. The news segment starts out with a reporter and the reporter says: Immigration officials say its difficult to estimate how many undocumented workers are in El Paso but believes it in the tens of thousands. and finding falsified documents to satisfy new employment requirements and amnesty could increase black market demands in El Paso. And then there is a sound bite from a border patrol agent. And he says: Any form of utility bill. electric bills to a light company. gas bill. anything that will try to establish residency. So we are anticipating a big. big rush on bogustype documents. Now it is the reporter speaking-"if the immigration package does become law. it will take more than a year before enforcement begins." Now. Mr. President. a great concern in my part of the country. and I am sure it is a lesser concern or maybe equal in other parts of the country. is that. no matter how we may debate about what the right amnesty provision might be. there is great concern about it being enforced.