Speech #1040205878

I commend his leadership. Although the distinguished ranking member of the subcommittee has not been in agreement on all parts of the piece of legislation. I believe that Senator KENNEDYs role in this has been a constructive part of a process which. in my judgment. will make major changes in our immigration enforcement efforts. Some time last year. I had the pleasure of testifying before the Immigration Subcommittee in support of S. 269. Senator SIMPSONS illegal immigration reform bill. I am pleased that the legislation that we have been debating these past few days essentially deals with the scope and the manner which the bill that I testified on last year covered. I want to preface my remarks by reemphasizing a point that I made at the time. which I think is valid in the context of the debate this year. That is. that there are those who are critics of our attempts to reform the immigration laws in this country who suggest that our efforts are somehow meanspirited or even "xenophobic." In my view. that is not only an unfair characterization. it is an opinion that is completely out of touch with the realities of our time. The Commission on Immigration Reform. chaired by the late Honorable Barbara Jordan. responded to this in the 1994 report to the Congress in which she and the members of the Commission concluded: We disagree with those who would label efforts to control immigration as being Inherently antiimmigrant. Rather. it Is both a right and a responsibility of a democratic society to manage immigration so that it serves the national interest. Mr. President. first and foremost. it is and it has always been the province. and indeed the responsibility. of the Congress to establish and to provide the means of enforcing our countrys immigration laws and to do so in the national interest. Since the Immigration Act of 1882. Congress has recognized the need to fashion immigration policy to fit the various public policy interests of the time. In the 19th century. our country depended on immigrants to build the railroads. to defend our unstable borders. and to populate the new frontier. At the turn of the century. our immigrant population helped to fuel the Industrial Revolution and to promote economic expansion. As a consequence. immigrants were allowed nearly unfettered access to our shores during that same period of time. As the needs of our country changed over the course of the early part of the 20th century. so. too. did our immigration policies. Although some of these policies were clearly the result of a racial animus. our legal immigration system has evolved into one that primarily is based on family unification and needed skills. In spite of the Congress best intentions. U.S. immigration laws have been violated on a massive scale over recent years. The Immigration and Naturalization Service estimates that nearly 300.000 undocumented aliens enter and remain in the United States permanently each year. That figure includes a substantial number in my own State of Nevada. estimated to be nearly 20.000. The proposition 187 ballot initiative in California last year is an example of the frustration felt by many in that State over the failure of the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws. The consensus that has emerged in this Congress and in the White House concerning the need to balance the Federal budget in 7 years has placed severe constraints on discretionary spending in the foreseeable future. As that discretionary pie continues to shrink. we must constantly reprioritize the spending allocations for many worthwhile spending programs that in whole or in part the Federal Government has been asked to support. While rational people may disagree as to the overall societal cost associated with illegal immigration. it seems rather fundamental to me that limited Federal resources are better spent on those persons who have played by the rules and reside in our country legally. I want to mention another aspect of unlawful immigration. one that is more difficult to quantify. yet clearly carries a price tag for us as a society. That is the cost to our environment. In many parts of the country. but particularly in the Southwest. the burgeoning population has placed tremendous strains on our natural resources. The quality of the air we breathe. the water we drink. and the land on which we live and recreate is directly related to population levels. Our ability to maintain a safe and healthy environment is constantly being challenged as those growth levels continue to increase. Unlawful immigration exacerbates these challenges in areas ranging from solid waste disposal to maintenance of our city parks. Mr. President. I have cited several of the realities we face as a nation in order to put in context the need for the legislation that we have debated and. hopefully. we will pass later on today. Quite simply. we must do a much better job of curbing the flow of illegal immigration. and that means both preventing illegal aliens from entering our country and deporting those who remained within our borders unlawfully. The legislation that we debate addresses both of these problems. It contains strong law enforcement provisions to assist in detaining and removing illegal immigrants. and. more importantly. it includes strong provisions relating to employer sanctions and verification systems. I might just parenthetically acknowledge the support of Senator SIMPSON and Senator KENNEDY with an amendment which I added which has been included in the managers amendment that deals with juvenile offenders who are here illegally and commit crimes that. if committed by adult offenders. would be serious felony offenses. The fact that this provision has been accepted in the legislation. I think. will strengthen the hand of law enforcement and give us an additional tool to deal with those violent juvenile offenders who are here unlawfully who currently are protected under the provisions of the Family Unity Act and who now may be subject to the provisions which will enable a stronger effort to be made to return them to the country of their own origin when these serious felony offenses are committed. The bill incorporates many of the recommendations of the Commission on Immigration Reform. as I alluded to earlier. It recognizes. as did the Commission. that the primary factor motivating people to enter our country illegally is the availability of jobs. jobs that pay more. often much more. than that in which an individual could expect to make in his or her native country. While this legislation reflects the need to enhance our border security efforts by nearly doubling the authorized level of Border Patrol agents over the next 5 years. it also recognizes the fiscal and geographical constraints of patrolling the entire U.S. border. Mr. President. the fact that more than half of all of illegal immigrants currently in the United States entered our country legally and subsequently overstayed their visas evidences the need to do much more than Just to improve border security to stem the tide of illegal immigration. The Commission on Immigration Reform found that the ineffectiveness of employer sanctions. prevalence of fraudulent documents. and continued high numbers of unauthorized workers. combined with confusion for employers and reported discrimination against employees have challenged the credibility of current work site enforcement efforts. This bill recognizes an improved system to verify eligibility to work in this country must be developed. It includes provisions to reduce the list of documents that may be accepted by employers. and directs the President to conduct local or regional pilot projects on improved verification systems. The recommended system could not be implemented. however. until it was authorized by Congress. The bill also contains provisions related to another recommendation of the commission. and that is the availability of public benefits to legal immigrants. The current law in this area. a version of which has been on the books for more than a century. provides that an immigrant may be admitted to the United States only if the immigrant provides adequate assurance that he or she is not likely at any time to become a public charge. The bill provides if an alien within 5 years of entry does become a public charge that immigrant may be subject to deportation. This policy is consistent with the Commissions recommendation and with the philosophy we as a Nation admit legal immigrants. with the expectation they will reside permanently in the United States as productive residents. In addition. the bill provides sponsors should be held financially responsible for the immigrants they bring into this country. In making the affidavits of support signed by sponsors legally enforceable. the bill indemnifies the Federal Government and seeks to hold the taxpayers harmless of their current responsibility for providing for support. Mr. President. I want to make it clear that I recognize the contribution immigrants have made to our society. With the exception of native Americans. we are all a product of our Nations immigration system. That is why it is so important for us as a nation to establish and to enforce our Immigration laws so that those who have played by the rules and followed the law are rewarded for their efforts. We can no longer allow aliens who enter or remain in the United States in violation of our immigration laws to effectively take immigration opportunities that might otherwise be extended to those potential legal immigrants whose presence would be more consistent with the public policy determinations made by this Congress about what is in our national interests. Once again. Mr.