Speech #1040203068

But then. as we have learned. if they are told it means something specific that affects them. they all of a sudden have a little different opinion. In that vein. I say that some of the polling related to immigration can be both. on the one hand. telling and. on the other hand. contradictory. Yes. it is true. overwhelmingly people want to deal with the immigration problems. The polling I have seen suggests. though. that the first priority they have is to deal with illegal immigration. That is why the first bill before us is a bill on illegal immigration. I also suggest that those who say they want to see the number of people who are permitted to come to the country legally reduced. those who say that would have different opinions if they understood the ramifications that might affect them or their communities. I have not seen polls go to that kind of extent. But I suspect if people understood that the children of U.S. citizens would have a lower priority than the children of noncitizens. they would surely not favor that form of legal immigration changes. I also would like to comment just as a postscript to the comments of the Senator from North Carolina. He is deadly accurate in his comments about the impact this bill has on the welfare access that noncitizens will have. Indeed one of the foremost objectives of this bill on illegal immigration has been the objective of trying to address the issuance of public assistance to noncitizens. One of the reasons we think this is a major problem with regard to immigration has been that people havesome people at leasttried to come here illegally to gain access to benefits. This bill attempts to address it. I think it forcefully will. The point I would like to touch on now very specifically is the broad question of numbers because the comments of the Senator from Arizona a few moments ago in the dialog between him and the Senator from OhioI do not know how many Members were watchingI thought that was perhaps as telling as any other discussion we have had here today on the question of exactly what really is going to happen if this amendment passes. As has been pointed out. the Immigration and Naturalization Service has noted that there will be a spike. an increase. In the number of people who become able to become legal immigrants in the next couple of years under the socalled family preference categories of spouses and children of U.S. citizens. That is an unlimited category. That is going to go up.