Speech #1030075331

President. I believe I am being very conservative when I say that. in addition to those that have been admitted legally. another 250.000 persons enter illegally and then stay on permanently every year. Altogether. well over 1 million new persons are added to our permanent population every year from immigration. Most Americans. and many of my colleagues. will be surprised to know that there is no firm limit on the number of immigrants that can be admitted to the United States each year. For the past 15 years. the number of immigrants admitted for permanent residence has increased in all but 3 years. In effect. Mr. President. the number of immigrants coming to the United States each year is governed. not by the laws of the United States. but by the desires of the immigrants themselves. We should have an overall limit on immigration which can be increased or decreased by the Congress. If it is true that the United States was once a nation of immigrants. it is also true that it is one no longer. nor can it become a land of unlimited immigrationa quote from the work of the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy. The Statue of Liberty always enters this debate. but Emma Lazarus did not say "everyone youve got. legal or illegal." If we are willing to act to control illegal immigration. If we establish a firm limit on the growth of legal immigration. Then I believe the Congress and the American people will continue to support our traditional generous immigration and refugee policy. The Immigration and Naturalization Service [INS]. which enforces our immigration laws. has long been underfunded and understaffed by the Congress and by successive administrations. Democratic and Republican. The INS is expected to administer the worlds largest immigration and refugee programs. as well as enforce the immigration laws in a country with nearly 4.000 miles of land borders. It has the duty of guarding the worlds only border between a stilldeveloping country to our south and our neighbor to our north. Job opportunities in the United States create a powerful magnet to illegal immigration. We must give more than lip service to the needs of the INS. We must provide the personnel. the equipment. and the other resources necessary to do the job we expect of them. Mr. President. let me note here that we have a splendid new Attorney General. Janet Reno. who has an acute sense of the importance of enforcing our immigration laws. She is also well aware of the importance of providing the resources required to enforce those laws. And most important. Mr. President. she has chosen a gifted person to be Commissioner of Immigration who is better prepared for the job than any Commissioner in our history. I believe we are going to see sweeping and important changes at INS and great improvement in the amount of support that agency receives from the Department of Justice. I am absolutely heartened by the promise and the performance that will come from the Attorney General. Janet Reno and Doris Meissnet. who I hope will be confirmed. and the sooner the better. as Commissioner of Immigration. It is time to reasonably tighten and seriously enforce our immigration laws. The first duty of a sovereign nation is to control its borders. and we are unable to do that today. We must reform our immigration laws. and the basis for that reform must be in our national interest. not the interest of any particular individual or group. My view of the national interest is that which will increase the wellbeing of the majority of American citizens. No individual alien or group of aliens has a right to enter or remain in the United States contrary to the will of the American people. With these principles in mind. I propose to introduce the following. reforms in our immigration laws: