Speech #1030066380

I think that we should step back for a minute and carefully look at the direction this debate has taken. I think it has not taken a good direction. because at least listening to the rhetoric on the floor a number of people are now feeling that somehow this amendment by the gentleman from California and the amendment of the gentleman from California are in some way slighting constituencies in peoples districts. I think that is exactly the wrong position for this House to take as we address the immigration issue. One thing that I have learned in representing most of the CaliforniaMexican border is that all Americans have an interest in a number of things. No. 1. they have an interest in preserving our laws with respect to citizenship. They have an interest with respect to having a border that has integrity. this is. a border that can be managed and controlled by the host nation. by the United States. and that applies going in both directions. in my case north and south. and they have an interest also in seeing to it that American taxpayer dollars go to persons who may have been defined in legislation before this body and before the various bodies of the States and not go to people who are illegally In the United States. and that includes. and let me just tell you. if you look at all the surveys that have been taken across the Southwest. that includes all groups. American citizens coming from every corner of the earth. having the backgrounds that reflect the entire surface of the earth agree on those principles. What we have seen is a situation in which illegal immigration is overwhelming our ability for the taxpayers to fund our social service systems. In California alone. we are spending $3 billion taking care of illegal aliens. That may be good for them. it may be beneficial for them. but the fiscal facts are that our taxpayers do not want that. They want to obey our rules and regulations. We are taught to obey the rule of law and respect the rule of law and they want to lay out rules and regulations for people who come to this country legally and accede openly to the benefits that we define for them. not to take cuts in line and get in ahead of somebody else. maybe an American citizen. maybe somebody who is a legal immigrant into this country and take part of that benefit. That is directly what the Baker amendment and the Cunningham amendment address. I would simply ask my colleagues not to take what I think is a wrong avenue here and divide this debate up into people who support minority constituencies in their districts and people whom they accuse of not supporting minority constituencies in other parts of the United States.