Speech #1040203066

Madam President. while we are debating the Simpson amendment on legal immigration. let me stress the need to address the problem of illegal immigration as part of Senate bill 1664. I support S. 1664. Madam President. stopping illegal immigration is one of the most difficult problems facing the United States. A recent study concluded that. since 1970. illegal immigrants have cost the American people over $19 billion in both direct and indirect public assistance. None of us doubt that illegal immigration is soaring in the country. Some estimate that the number of illegal aliens in the United States is over 4 million people. Moreover. the number of illegal immigrants coming into the United States is growing by over some 300.000 a year. During the recent recess. I visited many counties in North Carolina. It was very interesting that each county I went into. the county commissioners and the health officials all said. "We have a particular problem in this country that does not apply to other counties. We are being inundated with illegal immigrants." Well. it became almost a joke because each county was of the assumption that they were the only one that had the problem. The truth of it is. the problem is not only statewide. but it is nationwide. We need to stop it. Illegal immigrants are not supposed to be able to get public benefits. yet. over time. this has been changed. The Supreme Court ruled that children of illegal immigrants are entitled to a public education. Illegal immigrants are entitled to Medicaid benefits under emergency circumstanceswhich are most circumstances. Further. illegal aliens may receive AFDC payments and food stamps for their children. This is simply another burden on the working. taxpaying people of this country. In defiance of all common sense. it seems that only in America can someone who is here illegally be entitled to the full benefits that the Federal Government has to provide. We are stripping the money out of the paychecks of the working people. to support 4millionplus illegal immigrants. Is it any wonder that they are pouring into the country at an enormous rate of something like 30.000 a month? What does this say about the breakdown in the welfare systemthat it can provide benefits for illegal aliens? We simply should not be doing it. That was not the design of the welfare system. We are bankrupting it and corrupting it by continuing to sponsor and support illegal aliens in this country. Madam President. we have people coming into the United States illegally for higherpaying jobs. free schools. food stamps. and Governmentsponsored health care. By flooding the United States. the illegal immigrant population is taxing fewer and fewer public resources. We simply cannot afford the continuing rise in illegal immigration. Madam President. this bill is not perfect. but at the very least it will attempt to control the flow of illegal immigrants coming into this country by providing additional enforcement and personnel and by streamlining the deportation procedures. so that they can be removed. Further. this bill will stop the practice of people entering the country legallyand then going onto our welfare rolls. Anyone who goes on welfare within 5 years after arriving here can be deported. This is not as much as we ought to be doing. but it is a start. Madam President. we need to pass this bill to stem the flow of illegal immigrants. We cannot let this become another issue that the Democrats in the Senate stop. It is too important to stop.