Speech #1030109563

Constitution. there are a series of powers which the States vested to the Federal Government. Article I. section 8 of the Constitution enumerates those powers. Among those is the power of the Federal Government "to establish an uniform rule of naturalization." The States made it a Federal power and singular responsibility "to establish an uniform rule of naturalization." That is what we are talking about today. Mr. President. what happens when the Federal Government fails to enforce its uniform rule of naturalization and we end up with this large number of undocumented. illegal aliens. Is It then appropriate for the Federal Government to say to those handful of communities that are the point of impact. forget about it. we do not want to hear from you? Yes. we failed to meet our constitutional responsibility. Yes. you transferred to us any capacity that you might have previously had to enforce your borders. to protect you against illegal refugees and we have failed to properly carry out the charge that we accepted. But having failed. it is now going to be your responsibility to carry the full financial load. It is not as if these communities are escaping. The Senator from California cited a statistic which would indicate the State of California is paying about 75 percent of the cost of illegal aliens. Now we are proposing to have the State of California pay 100 percent of the cost of this population which is in its State because of the Federal Governments failure to enforce its laws. So I agree with the Senator from Nebraska that we have to plow this deep enough in terms of gaining information as to what has occurred In terms of the level of burden that is being placed on the States and what would be the further implication of the adoption of this total prohibition.