Speech #1040192542

Mr. Chairman. few areas of the Nation confront the challenges and suffer the Impacts of Illegal immigration as much as southern California. I strongly support provisions of H.R. 2202 which seek to control this problem through enhancements In our borders. increases in the numbers of border control agents. and increases In penalties for smuggling and document fraud. I will vote for passage of H.R. 2202. as amended. and continue to support the substantial increases in funding for the Immigration and Naturalization Service to stem the tide of illegal immigration. However. I have reservations about several of the provisions of this legislation. and will carefully scrutinize the conference agreement on this legislation prior to giving that bill my support. I want to specifically highlight my strong objections to inclusion of the amendment which grants States the option to deny all public education to illegal aliens. The amendment may be good politics. Clearly. it is appealing to many who are concerned about tight education budgets and the need to spend what moneys are available on American children. rather than educating those illegally in the country. However. the amendment is harsh in its treatment of children. is highly questionable as a disincentive to illegal immigration. and will create far more problems for schools and communities impacted by illegal immigration than it seeks to rectify. I fail to understand how proponents of this measure believe that creating a situation where school officials will be forced to determine a students legal immigration status will be beneficial to our educational systems. The costs of educating these children will merely be shifted to the administrative burden of determining immigrant status. We will not be controlling illegal immigration by keeping some young people out of school. What we will be doing is putting those same young people on our streets. unattended and unsupervised. This is hardly the result that many in our communities are seeking as they look to Congress to address illegal immigration. Moreover. stigmatizing certain school children In this manner. can only lead to potential discrimination against those children who may merely look different. Claiming the provision as a disincentive to illegal Immigration is questionable. at best. I do not believe that a free education for their children Is a primary incentive among Individuals seeking to enter the United States Illegally. Yes. we have a problem with illegal immigration. But punishing children not legally in this country through no fault of their own. while placing the burdens of defining who is and who is not legal on our public educational system. is a misguided attempt at solving that problem. With these reservations in mind. I support the legislation before us as we continue to enhance federal efforts to control our borders and ease the burdens of illegal immigration on our communities. cities. and States.