Speech #1040192270

Mr. Chairman. this debate can more appropriately be called debate over discrimination. not a debate over immigration. What we are seeing in collecting both legal and illegal immigrants is that we are going to treat legal immigrants as if they are illegal aliens. To me. this is no more than policy by prejudice and analysis by anecdote. Mr. Chairman. I ask my colleagues to support the Berman amendment so we can differentiate between the two issues here. I rise today in support of the ChryslerBrownback amendment and in support of the generations of immigrants who have built this country into the great Nation that it is today. This debate can be more appropriately called a debate over discriminationnot immigration. H.R. 2202 places drastic restrictions on legal immigrantsessentially treating them like secondclass citizens who do not deserve the rights and privileges that are afforded nativeborn Americans. This shortsighted action is a part of the unfortunate antiimmigrant fervor that has swept up this House and swept across the Nation. This is of great concern to me as the land of liberty. freedom. equality. and hope will have the image of being an unwelcoming closed nation. This is a troubling imageone that goes directly against the cornerstone principles of America. It is a travesty that in an effort to curb illegal immigration. the authors of this bill have chosen to blatantly discriminate against those individuals who are in this country legally. Not only do the legal immigrant provisions make it extremely difficult for families to be reunited. but they also deprive parents and children of assistance should they fall upon hard times. Under this bill. more than one third of all Americans will be unable to sponsor a family membersimply because they are not wealthy enough. No longer will a grown child. a brother or sister be able to join their family here in the United States.