Speech #1010246253

But. nevertheless. from those things come compromise. That is what legislating is all about. especially as we get toward the end of a session. But the purpose of the legislation which Senator KENNEDY and I first introduced in the 100th Congress and which the Senate twice passed by a large majority is to reform our system of receiving immigrants. It is reform intended to serve the national interest. That was the charge of the Select Commission on Immigration Refugee Policy on which Senator KENNEDY. Senator DECONCINI. and Senator Mathias served. That has been our blueprint for both this legal immigration bill and legislation we passed in the 99th Congress to address illegal immigration. So. Mr. President. this bill. we believe. does protect the cornerstone of our immigration policy. It provides for the unrestricted admission. and this has always been the case. the unrestricted admission of the immediate family of U.S. citizens. and it increases the visas available for the closest family members of citizens and residents of the United States. The bill also provides additional visas to help reduce the backlog in the closest family preferences and guarantees a modest increase in all family immigration. A very important provision in this legislation. Mr. President. is the new visas which it provides for skilled immigration. This bill also restructures our procedures and requirements for admitting skilled workers to fill temporary jobs in this country. and we have reserved a limited number of visas for unskilled workers. Another very important provision in this legislation is a new diversity program which will make 55.000 visas available to persons from those areas of the world who have been denied immigration opportunities for so long. Under this new provision. every country that has been shortchanged in the past will now receive a certain number of visas for their nationals. provided they have certain minimal skills that will help to ensure their successful integration into our economy. This bill also contains some very important provisions to address our continuing problem with illegal immigration. We have included provisions to address the widespread use of fraudulent documents in the employer sanctions program and to provide for the deportation of criminal aliens. The bill restructures our deportation procedures to bring them more in line with our Nations rules of civil procedure. We were in a situation in deportation where the deportees had more due process than did an American citizen. The bill also revises and updates our exclusion provisions. which were written nearly 40 years ago. which. in many respects. have become archaic in language and anachronistic in substance. This bill will increase overall legal immigration from a current flow of about 500.000 persons a year to 675.000 immigrants. This is a generous increase. It shows our compassion. our good will. But the bill provides. for the very first time. a mechanism through which the national level of immigration in the United States will be reviewed by the President and by the Congress every 3 years. So never again will we go 25 or 30 years without carefully reviewing immigration levels. how they should be adjusted to bring our immigration policy more into line with our national interests. I do commend the legislation to my colleagues. Following the mandate of the Select Commission on Immigration Refugee Policy and our chairman. Father Ted Hesburgh. we are very diligently working to close the back door through provisions in the bill for border patrol and improve verification procedures while we open the front door wider to skilled immigrants of a more diverse range of nationalities. So I want to commend my friend. Senator KENNEDY. my fine friend. who stood staunchly at my side throughout this vigorous conference.