I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding me this time. Mr. Chairman. it is true that we are a nation of immigrants. and we are all proud of that. Immigration has been a good thing for this country. But too much of any good thing can become harmful. even destructive. This is what is happening in our country today in regard to immigration. We are not controlling our borders and we are seeing many harmful effects from that. One example is that today 25 percent of the inmates in our Federal prisons are foreign born. most of them illegal immigrants. This is a tremendous expense to our taxpayers. Dr. Donald Huddle of Rice University. who has studied this issue perhaps as much or more than anyone. has estimated that immigrants now cost us at least $51 billion more each year than they contribute. $51 billion. With a national debt of over $5 trillion and our economy on such thin ice. this is a problem that threatens to overwhelm us. This legislation simply responds to the very strong desire of the people we represent as any democratic legislative body should do. A recent nationwide Roper Poll with an extremely high sampling found that 83 percent of the American people want immigration greatly decreased. The same poll found that only 10 percent felt we should do less in removing illegal immigrants from our country. A columnist for the liberal magazine. the New York Republic. wrote recently that "Sooner or later. Americans must face reality.
Identified stereotypes
Immigrants are a drain on the economy and contribute to crime.