Speech #1030082701

We. in Congress. who make the policies that future generations will have to live by. owe it to them to act responsibly to lead this debate. Under the legislation I have proposed. I will begin to restore immigration to its traditional and more manageable level of about 300.000 annually. Mr. President. I do not think that is really being tough on people. So it is really a lot of people. So I suggest that we should have that as a beginning point: 300.000 annually to put the excesses of our current immigration numbers in perspective. Even if we were to enact this decrease of more than 50 percent. the United States would still have the most open and generous immigration policy in the world. More importantly. the Immigration Stabilization Act of 1993 would institute the kinds of immigration policy that the American people want. Americans are generous people who are justly proud of our tradition of welcoming newcomers to our society. but all indicators of public opinion show that the vast majority of Americans of all racial and ethnic groups want to see immigration returned to the more manageable and traditional levels. The United States must. once and for all. adopt a comprehensive plan on immigration. The time for ad hocracy has passed. and we must begin to think in terms of integrated policy that serves the needs of the Nation and the people who make up this Nation. In the coming weeks. I will spell out in detail the specifics of the Immigration Stabilization Act. It is designed to reform all aspects of immigration and refugee policy and will provide the United States with a workable blueprint for dealing with current world and national realities. Among the key issues I will discuss are: First. a comprehensive ceiling on immigration of 300.000 annually. and the implementation of a fair and nondiscriminatory system for selecting new immigrants to the United States. Second. a generous refugee resettlement policy that depoliticizes the process to ensure protection is granted based on individual need. not political considerations. Third. an overhaul of our political asylum process to eliminate the kinds of rampant abuse that has attracted so much media attention and public outrage in recent months. Fourth. a plan to rid this country of the burden of people who are known criminals who prey on the American public and become a drain on our resources. Fifth. assuring the people who are given the privilege of sponsoring new immigrants to our country live up to the financial commitments they make to ensure these people do not become a burden to the taxpayers. Sixth. the effective deterrence of illegal immigration through enforcement of employer sanctions. including the adoption of a verifiable. tamperproof document to ensure that only those people who are legally in the United States work and collect benefits here. So we do not get frightened. this simply would be an enhanced Social Security card. Seventh. we need to regain control of our borders through additional border patrol manpower and other security control measures and the adoption of a $3 border crossing fee to provide the INS the rsources it needs to do the job. Every person who comes across should pay. Eighth. an allout crackdown against the practice of smuggling illegal aliens into the United States for profit. Our lax enforcement of immigration and asylum laws has created what can be termed as modern day slave trade. Ninth. ensuring Federal immigration authorities receive the full cooperation of State and local governments in enforcing laws against illegal immigration. Tenth. a clarification of the intent of the 14th amendment regarding who is entitled to U.S. citizenship. Mr. President. we have no choice but to address all these difficult issues. We can no longer satisfy ourselves with cosmetic changes that do not address the underlying truth that America lacks an immigration policy capable of coping with the realities we are facing. Websters defines the term "policy" as "prudence or wisdom in the management of affairs." By that definition. it is fair to say that this country does not have a policy but. rather. an inchoate and often incomprehensible hodgepodge of statutes. regulations and procedures. In other words. what we have is a mess that is only likely to get worse unless we demonstrate some courage legislatively.