Speech #1040198099

Mr. President. I come to the floor today to make a few brief comments on the immigration proposals that we will be debating over the next few days. My first observation is to recognize the distinct set of issues that relate to and will be debated with respect to legal and illegal immigration. I commend the work of the Judiciary Committee for recognizing the merits of considering two separate bills rather than one package. and I strongly endorse the committees position. Mr. President. what I hear from many of my constituents on the issue of immigration is the growing costs absorbed by the system. that is Federal. State. county. and local governments. to continue to provide public services and benefits to the immigrant community. And recently. in my home State of Colorado. the increasing number of illegal immigrants. in particular. has been a growing concern. Further. recent statistics. compiled by the Congressional Research Service and other recent studies. clearly document the enormous financial burden placed on Government entities to provide services to the immigrant community. It is my belief that without significant changes to curb the flow of illegal immigration. and to revisit current benefits bestowed to legal and illegal immigrants. this financial burden will continue to increase dramatically. For example. a recent study out of Rice University. concluded that immigration costs to the United States exceeded $50 billion in 1994 alone. While the conclusion reached in this study are subject to debate. there is nonetheless a compelling need for significant change. With over 4 million illegal aliens currently in this country. and over 300.000 arriving annually. the increasing burdens on our society demand our attention. I would like to point out that in my home State of Colorado. for the 5month period from November 1995 through Maxoh 1996. the Immigration and Naturalization Service [INS]. contacted a total of 3.486 illegals. Of those. 2.014 were deported. while 1.472 were let go. Mr. President. I would like to bring your attention to a newspaper article from the Denver Post dated April 12. 1996. that reads in part. "Last week. a van filled with 29 illegal immigrants was stopped on Interstate 70 in Grand Junction. but a lack of detention funds kept the INS from arresting them or their driver." These incidents come just days after the INS Operation Mountain Passes ended. As a result of this program. designed to specifically crack down on smugglers. roughly 1.300 illegal immigrants were stopped. arrested. and deported. However. and not so ironic. when the money ran out this program ended. Again as recently as Monday. in Colorado Springs. CO. a van containing 13 suspected illegal immigrants was stopped by the Colorado State Patrol. Unfortunately. for some unknown reason the INS could not respond. Because the State patrol does not have the authority to arrest illegal immigrants. these individuals were released. This represents the second time in less than a week that suspected illegal immigrants have been released because of inadequate NS response capability. As a result of changes in the dynamics of illegal immigration migration Colorado has now become a major corridor for illegal immigrants migrating east. Without the assistance of increased law enforcement efforts. such as Operation Mountain Passes. I am concerned that these successful efforts may be curtailed. While I support efforts to increase law enforcement efforts to curb illegal immigration. both at the border and to other impacted States. I do have concerns with provisions adopted in the House measure that may be considered in this Chamber. Primarily. I am concerned with the provisions adopted in the House bill that seek to deny public education to illegal immigrant children as a means of reducing the flow of illegal immigrants into this country. Congress should not be so overzealous in its endeavor to reduce the influx of illegal aliens that we adopt stopgap measures that are actually destined to increase the demands on public funding by expanding the number of Americas undereducated and unemployed. Any provision that seeks to deny children access to education will place a massive burden upon our already overburdened community services. schools. and local law enforcement agencies. At a time when local and State leaders are making strenuous efforts to keep kids off the streets and in school. education should be employed as an important tool to help solve Americas problems. not used as a weapon against its most helpless victims. Mr. President. reducing the flow of illegal immigrants must first focus upon measures that will actually restrict and hopefully prevent illegal immigrants from entering this country. I support provisions in S. 1684. the Immigration Control and Financial Responsibility Act of 1996. that provides for more border patrol agents. as well as the addition of 300 fulltime Immigration and Naturalization Service investigators for each of the next 3 fiscal years. I believe these provisions will provide a much needed boost to the understaffed and overworked agencies that we entrust to keep illegal aliens out of this country. Our focus. again. should be on the prevention and control of illegal immigration. rather than on retribution for illegally immigrating to this country. Each of my colleagues brings a certain perspective to the immigration debate. I have listened to much of the debate and realized that the great lot of us are products of immigrant families. Personally. I believe I have unique perspective to add to the debate. Over 60 years ago. my mother legally immigrated from Portugal. Like many people during that time she wanted the opportunity to make a better life for herself and an opportunity to succeed. but to do so in a law abiding way. While on the other hand. my father comes from people. the Northern Cheyenne people. who can document their ties to this land. to this continent for hundreds of years prior to the first explorers of this continent.