Mr. President. I certainly do agree with my friend from Illinois. that immigrants are great assets to the United States. In fact. USA Today recently reported that in the State of Massachusetts. 13 out of 17 high school valedictorians were immigrants. not immigrants from one region. but immigrants from Central America. immigrants from the Caribbean. immigrants from Asia. and immigrants from all over the world. As to reaching a saturation point with an additional 40.000 visas. I say to the Senator my amendment would still leave total immigration at about onequarter of 1 percent of the American population. Certainly that is not reaching any kind of saturation point. I still respectfully disagree with my friend from Wyoming about whether or not we are somehow making it more difficult for the nuclear family of American citizens to come in. The nuclear family. parents. spouses. and minor children now come inunder the old immigration law. and under this billwithout limit. So there is not going to be an assault on the nuclear family. But this amendment recognizes that a 1/2 million people are waiting for fifth preference visas. That fifth preference has grown very rapidly in recent years so we must act positively to reduce the backlog. I think that we indeed can add 40.000 new visas to this immigration bill. The Senator from Illinois talks about a compromise. I would point out to him that the KennedySimpson bill proposes 65.000 visas for fifth preference. Under current law the level is 64.800. So it only went up by 200.
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immigration immigrants visas