Speech #1040190518

Mr. Chairman. I believe my amendment will serve to strengthen H.R. 2202. the Immigration In the National Interest Act. and bring honesty and Integrity back to United States immigration law. Most American dont know it. but any individual who enters the United States illegally and Is deported. is still eligible for legal immigration or a temporary visa in future years. The United States border has become a revolving door for Illegal Immigrants. Its time we shut that revolving door forever. From the time of our forefathers. United States immigration policy has provided the opportunity for millions of people to come to America to help us build the strongest. most prosperous democracy in the world. In more recent years. however. many have begun to take advantage of our open door policy and our generosity. Today. some believe that immigration to the Urlted States Is a right instead of a privilege. Every year. 300.000 people enter this country illegally--breaking our laws and betraying our openness. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service estimates that 3.8 million people currently live in this country illegally. Even if these illegal Immigrants are caught and deported. any one of them can later apply for a student visa or a green card without penalty. This is not what America is all about. Illegal immigrants come to the United States at the expense of those who choose to play by the rules and come to America legally. While millions or honest people wait years for their applications to be processed so they can join their relatives who have legally immigrated to the United States. hundreds of thousands sneak across our borders in the dark of night without conscience. There is no incentive to comply with our immigration law because we do not differentiate between these criminals and lawabiding individuals. My amendment will put an end to this madness by taking a strong step in the right direction. According to my amendment. if an individual breaks our immigration laws by intentionally entering the United States illegally. he or she will never be rewarded with any kind of temporary or immigrant visa. Not 1 year later. not 20 years later. neverone strike youre out. We must use our scarce immigration resources wisely instead of wasting them on people who have no respect for the privilege bestowed upon them by American citizens. This is a commonsense approach to a problem that has plagued America for decades. Our current law sends the wrong message to wouldbe illegal immigrantsyou wont be penalized for breaking United States law. It Is no wonder that so many illegal immigrants are drawn to crime once they reach our country. Police organizations in my home state believe that illegal aliens have a significant impact on crime. According to the U.S. Attorney for western Washington. illegal aliens in the Puget Sound region are involved in bank fraud. credit fraud. check kiting. false marriages. assault. extortion. and drug dealing. The Tacoma Police Department reports that illegal aliens account for a large percentage of narcotics related crime in its jurisdiction. while the Seattle Police Department reports illegal aliens are involved in international organized crime rings and ethnic street gangs. The Governors office recently released statistics showing that Illegal aliens account for 14 percent of Washington States prison population. My colleagues have assured me that there are similar problems in their States. Clearly. these are not the caliber of people that deserve legal Immigration benefits from U.S. taxpayers. That is why I am working to enact this reasonable change to American immigration law. Simply said. if you dont obey immigration laws. you will not get a green card. Illegal immigrants will be illegal forever. My amendment will deter immigration at no cost to the American taxpayers. A preliminary/ informal cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office finds that my amendment will not significantly affect the Immigration and Naturalization Services workload. and therefore. will result in no significant costs to the Federal Government. Some Members have expressed a concern that my amendment will inadvertently apply to individuals who enter the United States legally on a temporary visa and stay on once that visa has expired. I can assure you. Mr. Speaker. that my amendment does not apply to visa overstayers. I have consulted with legislative counsel and counsel and the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims. They agree that because my amendment applies only to individuals who intentionally entered the United States illegally. it will not affect visa overstayers. The burden of intent will be very difficult to prove in the case of an individual who legally entered the United States. Others have asked whether my bill will permanently bar minor children who enter the United States illegally with their parents or another adult from future legal immigration benefits. The answer is no. My bill only applies to people who had the intent to cross our border illegally. According to common law. children age 7 and under are incapable of possessing criminal intent. while children 7 to 14 can be found to have criminal intent but such intent is very difficult to prove. Mr. Chairman. my amendment is sound immigration policy that will return a strong sense of law and order to U.S. immigration law. It will give those who play by the rules and follow our immigration laws a sense of pride and accomplishment and will punish those who. with no regard for their fellow man. choose to violate our laws for their own selfish gain. We must return honesty and integrity to American immigration law. My amendment has been endorsed by the Federation for American Immigration Reform. Eagle Forum. Americans for Tax Reform. the Carrying Capacity Network. Washington State Citizens for Immigration Control. and the Washington State Council of Police Officers. These organizations all agree that we must impose strong penalties against illegal immigrants In order to deter future illegal immigration and to bring common sense back to U.S. immigration law. I urge my colleagues to support my amendment and return common sense to U.S. Immigration law. Mr. Chairman. before I reserve the balance of my time.