Speech #1000151482

Mr. President. today I am introducing the Legal Immigration Reform Act of 1988. This bill is the second of a series of steps which I believe are vitally necessary for the development of a sound immigration and refugee policy for this country in the years ahead. Seven years ago. the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy concluded 2 years of hearings. reports. and research studies. and delivered to the Congress its final report and recommendations for the development of "a sound. coherent. responsible policy which serves the interests of the United States and is true to the deepest and best values and traditions of its citizens." The select commission. while reaffirming the benefits of immigration. reported that the first priority of immigration reform was to bring illegal immigration under control. while setting up a rational system for legal immigration. We took the first step in the 99th Congress when we passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. That legislation. designed to bring illegal immigration under control. appears to be having the desired effect. Illegal border crossings are down by nearly 30 percent. most American employers are complying with the new prohibitions against the employment of unauthorized workers. there are very few reports of employmrnt discrimination. and well over a million illegal aliens have applied for legalization under this bill. The legislation I am introducing today. Mr. President. represents the second step: The establishment of a rational system of legal immigration. Again. the measure follows closely the recommendations of the select commission which are to provide "a modest increase in legal immigration * * * and to introduce a new system which * * * will be more equitable and more clearly reflect our interests as a nation." The select commission reaffirmed the importance to the United States of additional "new seed" or "classic" immigrants who come to work. save and invest. and recommended the creation of an immigration channel for persons who are not able to enter the United States on the basis of family connection. This bill. Mr. President. is designed to address those recommendations. A similar bill is being introduced today in the House of Representatives by my fine friend Congressman CHUCK SCHUMER of New York. Congressman SCHUMER and I have worked closely in the drafting of this legislation and he is a vital participating member of the House Immigration Subcommittee. chaired by my friend and original sidekick in the cause of illegal immigration reform. RON MAZZOLI. Both were active participants in the processing of the immigration reform bill enacted in the last Congress. The very astute and able chairman of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee. my friend TzD KENNEDY. has introduced an immigration reform bill which also addresses the system by which we select immigrants. I pledge to work closely with our chairman in a sincere bipartisan effort for passage of a legal immigration reform measure which is truly in the national interest. Mr. President. as our remarkable mentor and counselor Father Ted Hesburgh. the chairman of the select commission. pointed out in his introduction to the commissions final report. "if it is a truism to say that the United States is a nation of immigrants. it is also a truism that it is one no longer. nor can it become a land of unlimited immigration. As important as immigration has been and remains to our country. it is no longer possible to say as George Washington did that we welcome all of the oppressed of the world. or as the poet. Emma Lazarus. that we should take all the huddled masses yearning to be free." It is imperative that Americans perceive that this great country is no longer one of vast. undeveloped space and resources. with a relatively small population. In an earlier time. the nation could welcome millions of newcomers.