Speech #1040190251

I know a number of us will be carrying the torch for him. We also owe a great deal of thanks to the gentleman from Texas who had a very difficult job of putting together in a very statesmanlike way a package that involved not only a lot of figures and a lot of issues. but a lot of passions. We have put together a package here. and I think we should pass this rule and pass this bill. that brings some degree of order to illegal immigration and to legal immigration. The illegal immigration we deal with by adding Border Patrol. by forward deploying those Border Patrolmen to the border. by putting in roads. and by putting in a triple fence. that will make it more difficult for smugglers to move people across the southern border of the United States. The legal immigration we bring some degree of order to by bringing in accountability. That means when people sponsor other people. immigrants. to come to this country. the sponsor has to give some fiscal accountability. That person cannot just come in and get on welfare and bog our system down to the degree of $28 billion a year which the present legal immigrants are costing the system. So it is important that we deal with these two questions together. It is important that we bring order to illegal immigration and to legal immigration. The gentleman from Texas has done an excellent job of balancing these competing interests and giving us an excellent package. We should vote for the rule and for the bill.