Speech #1040203030

Mr. President. there has been substantial debate recently regarding the connection between legal and illegal immigration. Those who favor increased legal immigration have argued there is no link between legal and illegal immigration. In their view. these matters are completely unrelated and should be treated separately. as you just heard. I disagree. It is simply impossible. I believe. to control illegal immigration without first reforming our legal immigration system. Onehalf of all illegal immigrants enter the country legally and overstay their visa. No amount of effort at the border will stop this. The only way. I believe. to effectively prevent illegal immigration is to reform our legal immigration system. Thus. I believe there is a clear link between legal and illegal immigration. I support Senator SIMPSONS proposals to reform the legal Immigration system. but I am concerned that even his efforts to reduce legal immigration do not go far enough. With all the misinformation and misunderstanding surrounding this issue. it does not seem possible for this body to pass legislation which will. in my view. bring the number of legal immigrants into line with our national interests. The central question. as I see it. is not whether we should continue legal immigration. we should. The problem is not that legal immigrants or legal immigration are bad per sethey are not. We are a Nation of immigrants. and immigrants have made great contributions to our country. as you have heard on the floor. Immigration is an integral part of our heritage. and I believe it should continue. The real issues that Congress must face. however. are what level of legal immigration is most consistent with our resources and our needs. Yes. and what criteria should be used to determine those who will be admitted. I am convinced that our current immigration law Is fundamentally flawed and I want to share with you some charts to Illustrate this point. First. the law has long been allowing the admission of excessive numbers of legal immigrants. Let me show you this chart. This chart here shows that the average number of immigrants in this country admitted per year has climbed to about 900.000. You can look at the chart. From the 1930s to the 1990s. it is just in an upward spiral. Additional legal Immigration levels averaged about 300.000 per year until the 1965 Immigration Act. As this chart indicates. this is the bulk of immigrants in our country. Threefourths of the immigrants are legal immigrants. This Is three times our level of illegal immigration. There is no other country in the world that has a regular immigration system which admits so many people. Current law fails to consider if such a massive influx of foreign citizens is needed in this country. It also fails to recognize the burden placed on taxpayers for the immigrants added costs for public services. Excessive numbers of legal Immigrants put a crippling strain on the American education system. NonEnglish speaking immigrants cost taxpayers 50 percent more in educational cost per child. Schools in high Immigration communities are twice as crowded as those in low immigration areas. as this next chart indicates. Immigrants also put a strain on our criminal justice system. Foreignborn felons make up 25 percent of our Federal prison inmates25 percent. much higher than their real numbers. Immigrants are 47 percent more likely to receive welfare than nativeborn citizens. In 1990. the American taxpayers spent $16 billion more in welfare payments to immigrants than the immigrants paid back in taxes. At a time when we have severe budget shortfalls at all levels of government. our Federal immigration law continues to allow aliens to consume the limited public assistance that our citizens need. Moreover. high levels of immigration cost Americans their jobs at a time when we have millions of unemployed and underemployed citizens. and millions more who will be needing jobs as they are weaned off of welfare. It is those competing for lower skilled jobs who are particularly hurt in this country. Most new legal immigrants are unskilled or low skilled. and they clearly take jobs native citizens otherwise would get. Second. criteria to select who should be admitted does not incorporate. I believe. our countrys best interests. As the next chart shows. who are the legal immigrants? Employment based is only 15 percent. Immediate relatives. 31 percent. other relatives. 27 percent. 4 percent is relatives of people who were given amnesty under other legislation. The others are refugees and asylees. 15 percent. The diversity lottery. 5 percent. But look at it again: Immediate relatives. 31 percent. other relatives. 27 percent. Relatives predominate the immigration. The 1965 Immigration Act provisions allow immigrants to bring in not only their Immediate family. Mr. President. such as their spouse and minor children. but also their extended family members. such as their married brothers and sisters who then can bring in their own extended family. The brothers wife can sponsor her own brothers and sisters. and so forth. This has resulted in the socalled chain migration we have been talking about. whereby essentially endless and everexpanding chains or webs of distant relatives are admitted based on the original single immigrants admission. This can be 50. 60. or more people. I believe this is wrong. and it must be stopped. Immigrants should be allowed to bring in their nuclear familythat is. their spouse and minor childrenbut not. Mr. President. an extended chain of distant relatives. Some opponents of reforming legal immigration who are fighting desperately to continue the status quo will say that only a radical or even reactionary people favor major changes in the immigration area. However. bringing our legal immigration system back under control and making it more in accord with our national interest is far from adequate. I submit. Let me remind my colleagues that the bipartisan U.S. Immigration Reform Commission. under the leadership of the late former Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. recommended fundamental reforms in the current legal Immigration system. and the overwhelming majority of the American people want changes in our legal immigration system. I certainly would not consider mainstream America radical or reactionary. The next chart shows that the results of a recently released national Roper Poll on immigration are dramatic: More than 83 percent of Americans favor lower immigration levels: 70 percent favor keeping immigration levels below 300.000 per year. 54 percent want immigration cut below 100.000 per year. 20 percent favor having no immigration at all. Only 2 percentonly 2 percent. Mr. President--favor keeping immigration at the current levels. I believe we should and I believe we must listen to the American people on this vital issue. If we care what most people think. and we should. and if we care about what is best for our country. I believe we will reduce legal immigration substantially by ending chain migration and giving much greater weight to immigrants job skills and our own employment needs. Mr. President. I support the Simpson amendment. which I am cosponsoring. to begin reducing legal immigration.