Speech #1040190320

Mr. Chairman. immigration reform. unfortunately. is one of those hot button issues that politicians use for their own purposes. However. here on the floor of the House of Representatives. we should not be politicians. but rather we should be legislators. It seems to me. we should shoulder the responsibility the Constitution gives us to determine what our immigration policy should be and to enact the laws which implement such policy. H.R. 2202 says our immigration policy should be "In the National Interest"-that immigration should benefit the country as a whole. According to the Roper poll in December 1995. 83 percent of those polled want a reduction in all immigration and 75 percent want illegal aliens removed. H.R. 2202 is a step in that direction. President Clinton organized a Commission headed by the late Barbara Jordan to study our immigration policies. to see if the current system is working. and to make recommendations if it is not. H.R. 2202 contains over 80 percent of those recommendationsrecommendations which include legal and illegal immigration. The committee will be asked to vote later on to strike some of the sections on legal immigration because they. "dont belong in a bill about illegal immigration." This bill is not about legal or illegal immigration. it is about our national immigration policyimmigration in the national interest. A national interest which is impacted by both legal and illegal immigration. Unless one supports no border or immigration control at all. then we have to make choices. This bill makes some of those choices. It chooses immediate family reunificationminor children and spouses--over extended family. It chooses skilled and educated workers over unskilled or uneducated. and reserves jobs at whatever level for those who are in this country legally. And. most importantly. it makes the policy decision that people who are in this country illegally are breaking the law and should leave without protracted litigation that can go on for years. Let us remember almost half the illegal aliens in this country arrive legally. To say that jobs. education. or taxpayerfinanced programs should be for those who are in our country legally is not "antiimmigrant" or "isolationist." Rather it says that the Congress is finally serious about regaining control of our borders. Our first priority should be immigration policies in the Nations interest not special interests.