Speech #1030109512

FL. They are just the latest of . tide of hundreds of thousands of persons who have arrived in my State alone without legal right of entry over the last 15 or 20 years. The same thing is true of most other States which face our southern borderCalifornia. to Texas. to Arizona and other States that have traditionally attracted large numbers of immigrant refugee populations. such as Illinois and New York. The Federal Government. having failed to adequately enforce our Immigration laws. the result being large numbers of persons in the country illegally. has at least accepted the fact that it now has some financial responsibility for these persons while they are here. and their stay here tends to be protracted because the same Federal Government has set up procedures by which a person can claim. for instance. political asylum. making a claim that "If I am deported. returned to my home country. I will face a legitimate fear of political persecution." Once that claim is made. very extended administrative and judicial procedures under Federal law are made available to that illegal refugee. Therefore. their stay in this country becomes very extended. In my community. there are persons who have for 10 years been waiting for a resolution of a claim of political asylum. Recognizing those realities of the Federal inability to enforce our borders and the Federal standards of due process that have been extended to illegal refugees once here. the Federal Government has taken on a limited. and I underscore the word "limited." amount of the financial responsibility for those persons while they are in the United States. The effect of this amendment is to say to the Federal Government: Having failed to protect our borders. having established procedures that allow for a very protracted stay in the United States. you are now to be prohibited from financially participating in the consequences of their being here. The effect of that Is that those communities which happen to have been most impacted by these Federal failures are now going to have to fully assume those costs.