Speech #1030082701

We hear from the American people when they appear in townhall meetings. or when students at universities and high schools all over this country write to us. They are not imagining things. They are not. as some apologists for the status quo contend. trying to blame immigrants for their problems. They are simply recognizing facts. Americas immigration policies are in a shambles. and they should be fixed. and we can no longer ignore them. It is as important and as realistic as dealing with health care. as dealing with our defense policy. any problem you want to talk about. This is right up at the top. On August 4. I introduced the Immigration Stabilization Act. S. 1351. which calls for a comprehensive overhaul of our Nations immigration policies. For the first time in more than a quarter of a century. S. 1351 seeks to institute major and meaningful reforms to a policy that lacks purpose and direction. While other legislation has been introduced in this session of Congress to address some of the most egregious abuses of our immigration laws. this legislation is the only one that institutes comprehensive reforms of the entire process. It does not pick at the sides. It turns our immigration policy upside down and takes a real good. hard look at it. I urge my colleagues to study this bill and join me in sponsoring this legislation. in redesigning U.S. immigration policy for the next century. In June. Jim Hoagland. of the Washington Post. called "Immigration: Topic A." I do not know Jim Hoagland. To my knowledge I have never seen him. I looked at this article and it looked like something worth reading. I agreed with him. He said that immigration is topic A throughout the developed world. It is a complex and multifaceted issue that is likely to be with us for a long time to come. I believe it is imperative that the Congress of the United States. working in conjunction with the administration. begin to treat immigration as a serious national and international issue. Events of the past several months have begun to jolt us. I hope. out of our complacency about the state of U.S. immigration policies. Rampant and welldocumented abuse of our asylum laws. the bombing of the World Trade Center. and the foiled attempt to commit other acts of terrorism in New York. fiscal crises in California. and other events will turn immigration. I hope. into a highprofile issue. We would be mistaken as a body to deceive ourselves into believing that immigration is a flashinthepan issue. that if we wait long enough it is going to go away. It is not going to go away. I have given these numbers.