Speech #1020223450

Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 5555. but with some reservations. On the whole. this legislation improves the immigration inspection process at airports and takes steps towards dealing with the flood of aliens who are arriving at our international airports with fraudulent documents or with no documents at all. The size of the problem at our international airports is large and growing. Last year the number of aliens entering with no documents or fraudulent documents was over 37.000. this year the alien smuggling rings are bringing in even more people. The activities of these rings not only circumvent our immigration control laws. but also contribute to human misery and criminal activity. since many of the smuggled aliens virtually are indentured servants. forced to work off the cost of their transit by engaging in prostitution. drug dealing. or other illegal activities. I want to commend the gentleman from New York for introducing this legislation and thank him for his willingness to work together to produce a bill that addresses this very serious immigration control problem. There continues to be a couple of problems with the legislation. but I am confident that we will be able to work those out before sending the bill to the President for his signature. It is important to point out that while this legislation will help reduce document fraud and alien smuggling at our international airports. it is missing a vital component of a comprehensive approach to dealing with the situation. The bill addresses the problem at points overseas and on airlines. but it does not deal with the problem here in the United States. It does not reform the asylum process nor stop the abuse of that system at U.S. ports of entry by alien smugglers. Under the scam currently being used by the smugglers. they direct their falsely documented clients to claim asylum at a U.S. port of entry. Because INS does no have the detention space to hold all applicants while their asylum claims are adjudicated. the smugglers know that their clients will be released into the public. Once that happens. the undocumented aliens can disappear into the general population and simply never show up for asylum proceedings. The likelihood of INS catching up to them is remote. The smugglers. however. have more effectiveand much more brutalenforcement capabilities than INS. If the aliens do not show up to work off the huge fees charged by the smugglers. they are likely to end up badly beaten or even dead. In order to respond to this abuse of the asylum process. we need to institute reforms that stop the abuses while fully protecting those who have valid asylum claims. I hope that we can work with the administration and the other body to develop such a compromise. As it currently stands. this legislation will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of immigration inspections and take steps toward reducing abuses of our immigration and asylum laws. I urge my colleagues to support it.