Speech #1040190347

Chairman. I rise in strong support of this legislation. I would first off like to congratulate the chairman of the Immigration Subcommittee. Congressman SMITH and Congressman ELTON GALLEGLY for their perseverance and diligence in seeing this legislation through. The gentleman from Texas has worked extremely hard to accommodate differing views and in doing so has crafted the kind of immigration reform legislation that this country so desperately needs. And Congressman GALLEGLY has put equal efforts and leadership in the bipartisan immigration task force on which I served. H.R. 2202 is a tough bill. and it should be. And. it recognizes the most important truth to immigrationthat legal and illegal immigration cannot be separated. Without addressing the deficiencies in our current legal immigration system. we will forever be unable to stem the flow of illegal immigration. Plain and simple. I would also like to take this opportunity to commend our colleague from California. Congressman GALLEGLY. the chairman of the bipartisan task force on immigration reform. As a member of this task force. I had the privilege of working with him to investigate and propose solutions to our out of control illegal immigration problem which make up most of this bills illegal immigration provisions. This legislation could be known as the law is the law bill. No open borders. As we all know too well. illegal immigration in this country is out of control. Every year an estimated 400.000 new illegal aliens appear throughout the country adding to the over 3.2 million already here. However. what many people do not realize is that only half of these illegal aliens enter at our borders. The other half comes from those who are legally admitted but who overstay temporary visas. namely student. tourist. and business visas. This is one of the main reasons that we must tackle the issues of illegal and legal immigration reform together. Illegal immigration brings with it many costs to the taxpayer: The cost in jobs. the cost in welfare. health care. education. and other benefits. and the cost in street crime. New Jersey alone accounts for almost 5 percent of the Nations illegal alien population. These 125.000 undocumented immigrants cost New Jersey taxpayers an estimated $160 million annually for public education. incarceration. and Medicaid services alone. H.R. 2202 says enough is enough. Illegal aliens will no longer receive any of these benefits. except for certain emergency medical and nutrition services. Our Nation is faced with an almost 35 trillion debt and annual $200 million deficits. Our limited funds should be spent on lawabiding citizens and taxpayers. Period. The bottom line is that for too long we have not been enforcing our own laws which prohibit illegal aliens from permanent entry into the United States nor have we made enough effort to address reforms to enforce these laws. Well. H.R. 2202 finally takes the steps necessary to enforce these very laws. Among other things. this legislation strengthens control of our borders by: Increasing the amount of border patrol agents by 1.000 for the next 5 years. increasing the number of INS officials at ports of entry. acquiring sophisticated alien tracking equipment. issuing border crossing cards. and using closed military bases to detain illegal aliens. It also increases enforcement and penalties against alien smugglers and those engaged in document fraud. Most importantly. this bill streamlines and expedites procedures for deporting and excluding illegal aliens. Persons making legitimate claims of asylum must get one hearing and one appealno more endless delays. appeals. and readjudication of immigration cases. Under H.R. 2202. those who do not have proper documentation can be removed without further hearing or review. A second important reform requires aliens to apply for asylum within 30 days of arriving at a port of entry.