President. I rise today to speak in favor of this bill. on which Senator SIMPSON and others have labored so hard and for so long. The bill will do much to stem the tide of illegal immigration into this country. During the Judiciary Committees mark up of the bill in March. several provisions were added that address the problem of criminal aliens in this country. I want to draw my colleagues attention in particular to these provisions. because they significantly strengthen the Federal Governments ability to deport and exclude aliens who have committed serious crimes in our country. Senator ABRAHAM pushed for these provisions in committee. and he is to be commended for that effort. I would like to offer a brief historical perspective on the nature of the criminal alien crisis. based on my past investigative and legislative work in this area. Criminal aliens represent a problem of enormous proportions. and a problem. regrettably. that our present criminal and immigration laws do little to address. In simplest terms. criminal aliens are noncitizens who commit serious crimes in this country. Currently. aliens who commit certain serious felonies are deportable or excludable. The problem is that at present we permit such aliens to go through two completely separate systemsone for their crimes. and one for their immigration statusin a way that invites abuse and creates confusion. The results are dismal. At my direction during the previous Congress. the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations conducted an investigation and held 2 days of hearings regarding criminal aliens in the United States.
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deportable noncitizens illegal immigration immigration