Speech #1040204014

I will simply go to the root of the matter. Mr. President. with regard to the Kennedy amendment. the American people believe strongly In the principle that immigrants to this country should be selfsufficient. We continue to emphasize this principle. as I said several times today. It has been part of U.S. immigration law since the beginning. and the beginning in this Instance is There is a continuing controversy on whether immigrants as a whole or illegal aliens as a whole pay more in taxes than they receive in welfare. noncash plus cash support. Or whether that is the case with public education and other Government services. there are experts. if you will. on both sides who say that they are a tremendous drain. and others say they are no drain at all. I have been. frankly. disenchanted by both sides In some respects. especially on the side that says bring everybody in you possibly can because it enriches our country regardless of the fact that some may not have any skills. some may not have any jobs. and without jobs there is poverty. and with poverty the environment suffers in so many ways. But that is another aspect of the debate. I believe that. at least with respect to immigrant householdsthis is an important distinction. that means a household consisting of Immigrant parents. plus their U.S. citizen children who are in this country because of the immigration of their parents--there is a considerable body of. evidence that there is a net cost to taxpayers in that situation. George J. BorJas testified convincingly on this issue at a recent Judiciary Committee hearing. Mr. President. an even more relevant question. however. may be whether any particular Immigrant is a burden rather than immigrants as a whole. I respectfully remind my colleagues that an immigrant may be admitted to the United States only if the Immigrant provides adequate assurance to the consular office. the consular officer. and the immigration Inspector that he or she is "not likely at any time to become a public charge." Similar provisions have been part of our law since the 19th century. and part of the law of some of the Thirteen Colonies even before independence. In effect. Immigrants make a promise to the American people that they will not became a financial burden. period. Mr. President. I believe there is a compelling Federal interest in enacting new rules on alien welfare eligibility and on the financial liability of the U.S. sponsors of immigrants in order to increase the likelihood that aliens will be selfsufficient in accordance with the Nations longstanding policy. and to reduce any additional Incentive for illegal immigration provided by the availability of welfare and other taxpayerfunded benefits. S. 1664 provides that if an alien within 5 years of entry does became a public charge. which the bill defines as someone receiving an aggregate of 12 months of welfare. he or she is deportable. It is even more important in this era that there be such a law since the welfare state has changed both the pattern of immigration and immigrationboth the pattern of immigration and immigrationthat existed earlier in our history because. before the great network of social systems. if an immigrant cannot succeed in the United States he or she often returned "to the old country." This happens less often today because of the welfare safety net. Many back through the chain of history in my family returned "to the old country" because they could not make it here. That is not happening today because of the support systems within the United States. The changes proposed by the bill clarify when the use of welfare will lead a person to deportability. These changes are likely to lead to less use of welfare by recent Inunigrants. or more deportation of immigrants who do become a burden upon the taxpayer. One of the ways immigrants are permitted to show that they are not likely to become a public charge is providing an "affidavit of support" by a sponsor. who is often the U.S. relative petitioning for their entry under an immigrant classification for family reunification. You heard that debate when we spoke briefly of numbers and legal immigration. We talked of that. That Is what those classifications. or preferences. for family reunification are. Under current law. sponsors agree to provide support only for 3 years. That is current law. Furthermore. the agreement is not legally enforceable. because it has been ripped to shreds by various court decisions down through the years. The bills sponsor provisions are based on the view that the sponsors promise to provide support. if the sponsored immigrant is in financial need. should be legally enforceable and should be in effect until the sponsors alien (a) has worked for a reasonable period in this country paying taxes and making a positive economic contribution or (b) becomes a citizen. whichever occurs first. That is the provision. The bill provides that the maximum period for the sponsors liability Is 40 "Social Security quarters"-about 10 yearsthe period it takes any other citizen "to qualify for benefits under Social Security retirement and certain Medicare programs. The bill also provides that deeming of the sponsors income and assets to the sponsored alien should be required in nearly all welfare programsalland for as long as the sponsor is legally liable for support. or for 5 years. a period in which an alien can be deported as a public charge. whichever is longer. Remember. we are talking about meanstested programs. We are talking about all programs. Yet. amendments make distinctions. and those things have been addressed as we debated. But it is simply not unreasonable of the taxpayers of this country to expect recently arrived immigrants to depend on their sponsors for at least the first 5 years regar(less of the specific terms in the affidavit of support signed by their sponsors. It was only. I say to my colleagues. on the basis of the assurance of the immigrant and the sponsor that the immigrant would not at any time become a public charge that the immigrant was even allowed to come to our country. to come into the United States of America. It should be made clear to immigrants that the taxpayers of this country expect them to be able to make it in this country on their own. I have heard that continually threaded through the debatethat they come here. they want to make it on their own. We are a great country for that. the most generous on the Earth.