Speech #1030082701

It is clear to everyone that our current laws and regulations are unworkable. I hope it is clear because it is to those I have discussed this with. As one colleague told me. the more you learn about our immigration process. the bigger mess you see it is. It is time to begin cleaning up that mess. In the coming weeks and months I am going to be speaking from this spot on the Senate floor about the whole range of issues covered by our immigration and refugee laws. I will explain in detail why I believe it is not enough to tinker. as I said. at the margins of U.S. immigration law. but why the United States must do comprehensive reforms that conform to the realities of the era in which we live. Proponents of the status quo argue that any attempt to reform our Nations immigration policies is an affront to our immigration tradition. It is an argument I hear over and over each time we attempt to have meaningful debate about U.S. immigration policy. It is important. therefore. to begin by laying to rest some of the myths that are routinely promulgated to stifle debate on this important issue. Upon close scrutiny immigration in the United States today is anything but traditional. From 1820 until 1965. a period encompassing most of the history of this Nation. the United States admitted an average of 300.000 immigrants a year. During that 145year period. we settled the frontier. fought a Civil War. created an industrial revolution. engaged in two world wars. endured a Great Depression. and ultimately emerged as the worlds greatest military and economic superpower. There have been ebbs and flows of immigration over this period but. taken together. 300.000 immigrants a year is our true immigration tradition. With the exception of one relatively short period at the beginning of this century. those levels have rarely varied. Contrast those levels of immigration with the numbers we are seeing today. Depending on estimates of illegal immigration. which we have trouble determining. we are now resettling between 1.2 million and 1.5 million newcomers every yearabout the size of the State of Nevada. every year. There is nothing traditional or rational. for that matter. about attempting to absorb the population of Nevada every year. year in and year out. When history is written. the decade of the eighties will be remembered as a decade of wretched excess and. true to form. immigration has been one of those excesses. As we focus on reining in many of the other excesses in the preceding decade. we must not overlook immigration. Unless serious reforms are undertaken. 15 million newcomers will settle in the United States during the 1990s. Yet. we continue to act as though immigration exists in a vacuum. Not a whit of thought has been devoted as to how we will meet the needs of that population. There has not been a single debate in Congress about how we will provide. not a firstclass education. but any education to all those new children. providing quality health care to the sick. secure adequate and affordable housing. ensure that there will be sufficient jobs. improve and expand in.frastructure. cope with environmental degradation. or ensure domestic tranquility. In short. we are admitting unprecedented numbers of new immigrants without even a modicum of planning. We are simply taking a leap of faith that somehow everything will work out. Those who find comfort in the knowledge that they are not alone In dealing with the problem will be reassured to note that virtually every industrialized democracy is also dealing with this thorny issue.