Speech #1040203013

This compromise amendment is between the Kennedy proposal and the Simpson proposal. The debate has been changed. I appreciate what the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts said. that this debate is not about legal immigration. But the fact of the matter is that we have received in committee incorrect numbers on legal immigration. and those numbers are so dramatically different from the fact of what Is actually happening. we learned from the press. that it does. by its own weight. changes the debate. When we hear in committeeand I serve on the Judiciary Committee and on the Immigration Subcommitteethat legal immigration numbers have been going down and will continue to go downand that has been the testimonyand then yesterday I read press that says. "Immigration Numbers to Surge.".and from one of the most distinguished journalists. Marcus Stern of the San Diego Union Tribune: "Border Surprise. Outcry Greets INS Projection of Soaring Legal Immigration." and when the Departments own numbers indicate that immigration in fiscal year 1995 was 1.1 million and In fiscal year 1996 will be very close to that 1 million mark. what we thought we were dealing with in the vicinity of 500.000 or 600.000 is clearly not the reality. Now. reports are one thing. numbers are another. Numbers affect classroom size. they affect housing markets in States that have major impact from legal immigration. California is on a tier of its own in this regard. So I am very hopeful that this body will not make it impossible for the Senators from California to put forward a compromise proposal. I am having copies of that proposal at this time placed on the desk of every Member of this House. Essentially. what the proposal would do is control increases in total family numbers and control chain migration. We would allow reasonable limits in family immigration totals for the next 5 years by placing a hard cap at the current law total of 480.000. without completely closing out adultchildrenofcitizen categories and providing for the clearance of backlogs without creating chain migration. Every Member will shortly have a chart which will show the difference between the Feinstein proposal with the hard cap of 480.000 and the Simpson amendment with a hard cap of 480.000 and no backlog reduction. Also distributed to you will be a chart which will show current law. We now know that although current law is 480.000. it is going to be close to 1 million. The Kennedy proposal of 450.000. which is in the bill. with increases in the immediate family with an anticipated additional Increase of 150.000the Kennedy proposal numbers will be close to 1 million. It will be a major Increase in legal immigration. If one is to believe the figures that INS has just put out. We will also distribute to each Member the new figures of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Under current law. INS projected 1.100.000 family immigration last year. and what they say will be in fiscal year 1996. is 934.000. similar to the figures under the Kennedy proposal which is now in the bill. I voted for the Kennedy proposal in committee. I did so with the assurance that the numbers were not going to be increased. The first time I knew that was not the case was when I saw a New York Times article saying that in fact these numbers swelled legal immigration totals. And then of course yesterday we saw that the numbers were off as given to us by INS by 41 percent. Current law has Increased the numbers. due to the naturalization of 2.5 million people whom are legalized under IRCA. The spouse and minor children of citizens Is going to increase for the next 4 years. increasing an anticipated average of between 300.000 and 370.000 or more per year for the next 4 years. I would suspect that even these numbers are going to be higher. Under current law the spouse and minor children of citizens are unlimited. The family total of 480.000 is a pierceable cap. which means the additional increases in this category due to IRCA legalization. pierces the cap and Increases family immigration numbers over the 964.000 in fiscal year 1996. So that number. even the projected numbers. are going to be low. Also under current law. another source of increase in family numbers is the spillover from unused visas In the employment base category. In fiscal year 1995. 140.000 visas were available and only 85.000 were used. This means 55.000 spilled over to the family category. What my compromise amendment does. what the Feinstein amendment would do. is stop the pierceable cap. place a hard cap on the 480.000 that are theoretically allowable today. That is the current law. but without the anticipated increases. because the hard cap would stop that. It would also stop the spillover from the unused employment visas. the loophole In the current system that no one talks about. Fairness. I believe. dictates that we do not close out the preference categories.