Mr. President. much of the debate on this floor is focused on how to strengthen our immigration laws. But whatever we pass will not mean much if we do not make sure that our States have the tools and support they need to enforce those laws in the first place. My amendment. which is cosponsored by Senator BYRD and Senator DASCHLE that would require the Attorney General to provide at least 10 fulltime active duty agents of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in each State. These can be either new agents or existing agents shifted from other States. In America today. immigration is not simply a California issue or a New York issue or a Texas or Florida issue. I can tell you that it is a real Issueand a real challengein my own State. But today there are three Statesincluding Iowathat have no permanent INS presence to combat illegal immigration or to assist legal immigrants. In fact. in Iowa every other Federal law enforcement agency is represented except the Immigration and Naturalization Service. This is a commonsense amendment. Ten agents is a modest level compared to agents in other States.
Keywords matched
Immigration immigration immigrants Naturalization illegal immigration