Speech #1040192283

Chairman. I rise in strong opposition to this gutting amendment. This amendment would destroy this bills ability to reform our notoriously deficient immigration laws. No one will argue that immigrants have not formed the backbone of our country. Immigrants from all over the world have helped make this great Nation what it is today. And. they will continue to bring America forward in the 21 century. But. we can no longer espouse an open border/open port immigration policy. In the face of increasing corporate mergers. downsizing. and technological advancement. our economy cannot absorb greater numbers of immigrants. let alone provide jobs to those people who have been laid off or cant find work. This Is a gutting amendment that refuses to recognize the problems that legal Immigration causes for our country and hardworking American taxpayers. Over half of the 400.000 Illegal aliens who come to the United States every year come here legally and overstay their visas. Over 80 percent of all admitted legal immigrants are low skilled and uneducated which has resulted In a drop of 50 percent In real wages for those who never graduate from high school. Legal Immigrants receive $25 billion more in public benefits than they pay in taxes. Including a 580 percent surge in their SSI payments over the past 12 years. Mr. Chairman. these figures are startling and totally unacceptable. They are a direct result of our misguided immigration policies of 1986 and 1990 which first granted amnesty to 2.7 million Illegal aliens. and second almost tripled employmentbased visas and removed limits on familyrelated categories for immediate relatives. Consequently. legal Immigration and sponsorship have ballooned. They continue to drain our welfare system and slow our economy by taking away jobs from those already here. We can no longer Idly sit by and watch this happen when our own citizens are living below the poverty level. without health care. without jobs. That is why we must restructure our current legal immigration system now. H.R. 2202 does this fairly and sensibly: By offering preference to nuclear familiesspouses. minor/dependent children up to age 25. and parents whose health care is prepaidand highly skilled workers. by allowing entrance to at least 50.000 annual backlogged nuclear family members. and by keeping categories for refugees and diversity visas. Even with the bills numerical limits. we will still be admitting 600.000 to 700.000 legal Immigrants annually. Could anyone say that these levels are not generous? I think not. Mr. Chairman. it Is impossible to Implement Immigration reform without tackling legal immigration. Legal immigration feeds illegal Immigration. and feeds on our welfare system. This amendment would not only gut this legislation. but it would perpetuate both of these problems. We cannot let this happen.