Speech #1040192205

Mr. Chairman. let me first start out by addressing some unfortunate distortions concerning our amendment. Our amendment does not increase immigration levels. and it does not touch the welfare restrictions in the bill. It does keep families together. Our amendment will simply restore the legal immigration categories that are defined under current law. strike the cuts in permanent employersponsored immigration. and keep refugees admission at the current annual limit. It is simply wrong that this immigration reform bill prohibits adult children. brothers. sisters. and parents from immigrating to the United States. That is right. Under this bill. no American citizen will be able to apply for a visa for their close family members. The excuse being used for the closing the door on the families of American citizens is that we need to give more family visas to former illegal aliens who were granted amnesty in 1986. Mr. Chairman. slamming the door on immediate family members of U.S. citizens in order to give former illegal immigrants more visas for their families is unconscionable. I also have a difficult time with the bills definition of family as only spouses. minor children. and parents with health insurance coverage. I believe that brothers. sisters. parents without longterm health care coverage. and children over the age of 21 are all part of the nuclear family. In the interests of families and keeping families together. our amendment will restore the current definition of "family" to include spouses. children. parents. and siblings. Mr. Chairman. in a country of 260 million people. 700.000 legal immigrants Is not an exorbitant amount. There is simply no need to cut legal immigration. people who play by the rules and wait their turn. to 500.000. We are all immigrants and descendants of immigrants. In fact. 12 percent of the Fortune 500 companies were started by immigrants. There are numerical caps on family immigration. percountry limits. and income requirements placed on sponsors. My amendment does not change any of these requirements. In addition. title 6 in this bill will place restrictions on immigrants from receiving welfare benefits as well as increase the income requirement on sponsors to 200 percent of the poverty level. I fully support these requirements. and my amendment does not change these provisions in the bill. Immigrants who go through all of the legal channels to come into this country should not be lumped into the same category as those who choose to ignore our laws and come into our country Illegally. I agree with most of the illegal immigration reforms that are included in the bill. and I would like to vote for an immigration reform bill that cracks down on illegal immigration. But I cannot justify voting for drastic cuts in legal immigration because of the problems of illegal immigration. These are clearly two distinct issues that must be kept separate. Mr.