Speech #1040196576

I hope that we will be able to sustain this on the floor and we will not change this. Let me turn finally to one more issue. that has to do with the linkage of this bill. I believe it was a mistake in the original bill to combine the issues of legal and illegal immigration. For my colleagues watching on TV or on the floor who are not on the committee. we separated this in committee. What you have before you are two separate. distinct bills. I think it should stay that way because the issue of illegal immigration is decidedly distinct from the issue of legal immigration. I think that the biggest mistake of the original bill was to combine the issues of legal and illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants are lawbreakers. That is the fact. Frankly. Mr. President. no society can exist that allows disrespect for the law. On the other hand. legal immigrants are people who follow the law. They are an ambitious and gutsy group. They are people who have defined themselves by the fact they have been willing to come here. play by the rules. build a future. and take chances. To lump them in. Mr. President. legal immigrants. with people who violate the law is wrong. We simply should not do it. Historically Congress has treated legal immigration and illegal immigration separately. Father Hesburgh in his 1981 report indicated that Congress should control illegal immigration. while leaving the door open to legal immigration. Congress has in fact done this over the years and kept the issue separate. In 1986 Congress dealt with illegal immigration. In 1990 Congress dealt with legal immigration. In fact. Mr. President. the very immigration bill that is before us today started its legislative career as a piece of legislation separate from the bill covering legal immigration. It was only late in the subcommittee markup that the bills became joined. These issues.