Speech #1040190405

Mr. Chairman. the people of my district have been sending a strong message since the day I first took office: Stop illegal Immigration. I have been listening carefully. I was a member of the bipartisan House task force on Immigration which made many of the recommendations on which H.R. 2202 is based. Thats why I rise today in support of H.R. 2202. which will give the Federal Government the tools necessary to take control of illegal immigration. The long history of this issue demonstrates that we cannot stop Illegal Immigration without firmer controls on our borders. The bill before us does so. It gives the Border Patrol the resources necessary to cut down Illegal border crossings by adding 5.000 new agents by the end of the century. It also equips Border Patrol officers with the equipment and technology they need to stem the flow of illegal entrants and to outfox the increasingly sophisticated alien smuggling rings which bring thousands of illegal aliens to our country each year. H.R. 2202 also gives the Immigration and Naturalization Service new tools to identify and deport the large proportion of illegal aliens who come here legally but brazenly overstay their visas in order to obtain American jobs. But In order to truly address the issue of illegal immigration. we must also take a hard look at what entices citizens of other nations to skirt our laws and enter our country illicitly. An effective policy to deter Illegal immigration must counter the attraction of American jobs and benefits. It must find ways to make It virtually impossible for anyone to come to the United States illegally and expect to earn an Income. This bill is an important first step In Implementing such a policy. It is strong on workplace enforcement. levying heavy fines on those employers who prefer to hire cheap undocumented workers at the expense of American labor and in violation of the law. It also provides new eligibility verification programs and improved Identification documents to keep undocumented workers from obtaining employment and to protect the vast majority of American businesses who would never willingly hire an undocumented worker. In addition. it creates new articounterfeiting laws to crack down on those who would profit from attempts to skirt workerverification laws. Mr. Chairman. the strong curbs on illegal Immigration that this bill would put in place are of critical importance to the people of my district. to southern California. and to the Nation. I urge my colleagues to reject attempts to weigh this bill down with new guestworker programs and. as the daughter of Immigrants. I strongly urge the House to reject poorly thoughtout caps on legal immigration. We must act on Illegal immigration. and we must act today. Its important to the success of our efforts that we do it the right way.