Speech #1010042714

The distinguished Republican manager of this bill today on the floor was the principal author of that legislation and provided very strong leadership and did an excellent job. I want to tip my hat to the junior Senator from Wyoming for what he did. The provision to allow certain illegal aliens to apply for lawful temporary resident status was included for pragmatic. political and compassionate reasons. Why did we pass that legislation? We did it for pragmatic reasons. we did it for political reasons. and we did it for compassionate reasons. What were the pragmatic reasons? The fact was that there were millions of undocumented aliens in the United States at that time. It would be impossible to locate and deport all of them. So the conclusion was it was far better to take the situation as it existed then. let those apply for amnesty. and then change the rules for the future. Some of those changed rules were. of course. the provisions dealing with employment. Far stricter rules uoth on the employers and on the employees. the socalled sanctions. 1he first reason was a practical one. We could not do anything about those millions of illegal aliens anyway. so we might as well let them apply for citizenship and start fresh. The political reason for amnesty was one of balance. Coupled with the amnesty provisions. as I say. were reforms. Those reforms dealt with requiring employers to check the status of those they hired. and it put sanctions on those who hired undocumented workers. The most compelling reason for the amnesty bill. in my judgment. was that of compassion. I believe our society is best served by a generous measure of understanding when it comes to undocumented aliens in our country. So we thought the fairest and the wisest course was to set strong procedures for the future but not deport those who have been here prior to the cutoff date. Certain people. unfortunately. fell through the cracks. Let me give you a situation from my State. We have an individual I will call Leon. who immigrated to the United States illegally from Colombia on October 24. 1981. He how lives in Central Falls. RI.