Speech #1040204917

President. I am pleased to have joined with my colleagues. Senators HARXZN and DASCHLE. in sponsoring an amendment to this bill which requires the Attorney General to ensure that every State has at least 10 fulltime active duty agents from the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Currently. West Virginia is one of only three States that does not have a permanent INS presence. Our amendment rectifies that problem. As the debate on this bill has shown. the Senate is determined to strengthen our current laws with respect to immigration. particularly illegal immigration. But whatever we pass. whatever new laws we fashion to combat the serious problem of illegal immigration. they will mean little if we are not also willing to provide the tools and support to enforce those laws. Mr. President. In America today. illegal immigration is not simply a California problem. or a Texas problem. or a New York problem. On the contrary. it is a national problem that impacts on every one of the 50 States. Obviously. my State of West Virginia does not suffer the consequences associated with illegal immigration to the same degree as do other States. But I believe that if we are to have a coherent national policy. a policy based on stopping the hiring of illegal aliens and swiftly deporting those who are here illegally. then every State must be brought into our enforcement efforts. And that means providing every State. not just some States. with the law enforcement tools they need. Clearly. every State needs a minimum INS presence to meet basic needs. By providing each State with its own INS office. the Justice Department will. I believe. save taxpayer dollars by reducing not only travel time for those agents who must now come from other areas. but also Jail time per illegal alien. since a permanent INS presence would substantially speed up deportation proceedings. Moreover. there is a growing need to assist legal immigrants and to speed up document processing. How are employerswho will be mandated under this bill to aggressively work to deter the hiring of illegal aliensgoing to receive the administrative help they need without the assistance of local INS personnel? Mr. President. this amendment makes sense. good common sense. It is a modest proposal that I believe will send a clear message that we are serious in our commitment to enforcing our immigration laws. Consequently. I am pleased to have sponsored the amendment. and equally pleased that the Senate has included it in the current bill.