Mr. Chairman. I rise to strongly support H.R. 2202. the immigration bill before us. I have served on this subcommittee and worked with immigration for all the years I have been in Congress. I cannot think of any more important immigration legislation to pass than this bill. Mr. Chairman. I can testify to the fact that the legal immigration provisions in here are exceedingly important and exceedingly generous. contrary to what we might hear some other people say. With the exception of the period of legalization or amnesty that occurred after the 1986 law. the 3.5 million people that this bill would allow to come into this country legally over the next 5 years would be the highest level of legal immigration over the last 70 years. So make no mistake about it. this is not a restrictionist proposal that has come out of the committee on legal immigration. In fact. there are some good features about it. very important features. We have been skewing the legal immigration so much toward family reunification and so much toward preferences. such as allowing brothers and sisters in of those who are here legally. that we have not been taking in the traditional numbers of seed immigrants who have special talents and skills but do not have any relatives here whom we should. and whom historically this country has and upon whose hard work we have had the great melting pot and the great energy we have had to make this economy and this great free market Nation of ours. So I urge the legal immigration provisions be maintained in the bill and be adopted. On the illegal side. the bill has great provisions in it to remedy defects with the asylum provisions. We have had people claiming political aslym wrongfully and fraudulently for years now. saying that they would be harmed by being sent back home for religious or political persecutions of some sort.
Keywords matched
immigrants family reunification immigration