Mr. President. I rise to explain my opposition to S. 1664. the illegal immigration bill approved by the full Senate today. There are several provisions in the bill that I strongly support and that I believe will significantly improve our ability to curb illegal immigration. For example. providing additional personnel and resources to the Border Patrol marks an unprecedented effort to provide law enforcement agencies with the tools to maintain the integrity of our border. And the tough new penalties authored by the Senator from Michigan. Senator ABRAHAM. and myself for those who come here legally and fail to depart when their visas expire is the first time ever anyone has proposed cracking down on the visa overstayer problema problem that represents up to onehalf of our illegal Immigration problems. In addition. I am also pleased that we were able to ensure that this legislation does not dramatically reduce current levels of legal immigration. As I have consistently said. we should focus on those who are breaking the rules. not those who are abiding by them. Unfortunately. the bill contains very troubling provisions relating to the establishment of a national worker verification system that I remain strongly opposed to and that I believe violate the principle I have just outlined. Some believe that a massive new national verification system to verify the identity of all U.S. citizens and alien residents is a measured response to the illegal immigration problem. I could not disagree more. INS tells us that less than 2 percent of the U.S. population is here illegally.
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immigration illegal Immigration visa Border Patrol illegal immigration visas