Speech #1030131614

Mr. Speaker. today I am introducing the Immigration Moratorium Act of 1994. The bill proposes that after two decades of unprecedented levels of legal and illegal immigration to the United States we declare a temporary pause and reform our failing immigration policies. which have been virtually abandoned and are not being enforced. Few can dispute that our immigration policies are no longer serving the interests of the United States. the American people. or. for that matter. immigrants. At the current pace. the United States admits almost 1 million legal immigrants per year. Since 1970. 19.3 million immigrants have settled in the United States. Needless to say. illegal immigration has also skyrocketed. Every year. the INS apprehends more than 1 million aliens attempting to illegally enter the United States. According to INS figures. roughly three times as many successfully cross our land borders. Mr. Speaker. many in this body may view a moratorium as a radical idea. not worthy of national debate. or feel that the proposed moratorium ignores or belittles the contribution that immigrants have made and make today to our Nation. Nothing could be further from my intent. It is not my intent to diminish the vast contributions Immigrants made in helping to build this country. and are making today. Rather. it is my intent to recognize the existing realities that we have lost control of our borders. that our immigration policies are in need of urgent repair and that the longterm trend of both legal and illegal immigration has placed a near insurmountable burden upon our finite ability to absorb and make welcome those who wish to join us as Americans. We simply cannot continue to ignore the stress that unchecked immigration has placed upon many of our States and urban areas or their social. educational. and health care systems. Nor can we ignore the fact that immigrants themselves suffer under the existing system due to the lack of resources needed to help them assimilate. Studies indicate that a U.S. moratorium on immigration would yield highly positive gains by allowing the 20 million immigrants. now within our borders. time to assimilate into the mainstream. Statistics show that the present levels of immigration to this country have posed some very serious problems. Some of the astonishing facts are: According to economist Donald Huddle. the 1992 cost to taxpayers of public assistance for the 19.3 million immigrants who have settled here since 1970 was $62.7 billion-$42.5 billion more than the immigrants paid in taxes. Immigrant use of the Supplemental Security Income Program has jumped 370 percent in 10 years. Public assistance benefitssuch as health care. welfare. education. and housingpaid to illegal aliens cost American taxpayers $10 billion per year. $7.6 billion more than illegals have paid in taxes. Asylum claims have gone from 5.801 in 1979 to a record 147.000 in 1993. In 1992. 52 percent of asylum claimants failed to appear for their asylum hearings and we have no way to track them down in order to expel them from the country. In 1992. 65 percent of the births in Los Angeles County hospitals were to illegal aliens. More than 450.000 criminal aliens are currently imprisoned. on probation. or on parole in the Uniled States. and Federal and State prisons spend $723 million per year on illegal aliens in prison. Several States. including my Stale of Arizona. have vowed to sue the Federal Government for reimbursements for services it provides to illegal immigrants. Americans have overwhelmingly voiced their desire to regain control of our borders and place strict limits on legal immigration. I believe that my bill is a responsible way to address their desire. The Immigration Moratorium Act of 1994 would continue to allow the immigration of spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens. legitimate political refugees. and those who have been waiting in the backlog for more than 10 years to come to the United States. In an effort to combat illegal immigration. my bill would eliminate many of the magnets responsible for the crisis. It would reform our asylum system. stop the payment of Federal welfare and unemployment benefits to illegal aliens. end the guarantee of automaticbirthright citizenship. and increase border security. It Is time for a moratorium. a temporary timeout. from the unmanageable social and fiscal burdens that are a result of todays extraordinary levels of legal and illegal Immigration. I hope that my colleagues will join me in this effort 1o restore a sense of responsibility to our Immigration system.