Speech #1040206058

There is nothing more fundamental to an integrated state and culture than a common language. The trend toward bilingualism in some areas. I contend. may not be productive at all. but instead may simply delay the mastering of English for many immigrants. Any policy or law which encourages the use of other languages at the expense of learning English naturally erodes our traditional national identity in a most direct and important way. Requiring education to be in English is the best way I know of to keep the melting pot melting. Second. we seem to have shifted away from employmentoriented immigration. designed to fill particular gaps In our work force. and gravitated instead to an emphasis on family reunification. The Judioiary Committee has debated the numbers allowed for family reunification. but I would question the emphasis on this priority above employment tests for potential citizens. It seems to me to be simple common sense to encourage immigration to the United States among applicants who can help the United States meet certain needs that might strengthen our workforce and help us be better able to compete in a global economy. Third. even when we review those employmentoriented visa programs which are now on the books. we find them to be wrongly implemented. The Labor Department Inspector General has recently found two key programs. the Permanent Labor Certification [PLC] program and the Temporary Labor Condition Application [LCA] program to be approaching a "sham." These programs. allowing a combined ceiling of some 200.000 worker entry visas per year. were designed to bring in workers for Jobs that could not be filled by Americans. allowing us to hire the best and the brightest In the international labor market so Americans can remain competitive in the world economy. But instead of protecting American workers jobs and wages. the real result has been to simply displace qualified American workers for essentially middle level jobs. and the Labor Department report recommends the programs be abolished. Fourth. there is solid evidence that some Immigrants come to the United States to participate In the welfare state. or do so because of a failure to find a job in their own land. This bill. S. 1664. attempts to address this issue through strict. new. deportation rules aimed at any immigrant that becomes a "public charge." and I commend the committee for that initiative. However. these new public charge regulations will have no affect unless we aggressively work to actually deport such individuals. Implementation of similar legal provisions in the past has been disappointing. and a renewed attempt Is clearly needed. The pattern of immigration since 1965 has unfortunately shifted to less skilled workers than was the case in earlier decades and. in the 1980s a large majority of immigrants came from the developing world. particularly Latin America and Asia. Surely It should not be taboo to consider whether the great numbers of developing world cultural groups can actually provide the skills needed for the current U.S. job market. Are these prevalent immigrant groups going to strengthen our Nation with their skills or weaken it because of their needs? That should be the question we ask when we write such law. The wave of immigrants is arriving as a result of policy we write in the Congress and. therefore. I suggest we are obliged to commission ongoing evaluations of the process and success of Immigrant assir Ilation into American society. Any ethnic and national mix caused by our immigration laws should be the result of conscious. deliberate policy embodied in the laws we consider here on this floor. not of accident or politics or a disinclination to take on sensitive groups or issues. Finally. I suggest we need to be consistent in our approach to the growing and complex problems associated with immigration. We cannot complain about the changing ethnic mix of immigrants. on the one hand. and then exploit such people for cheap labor. on the other. We need to assume responsibility for the results of our immigration policies. evaluate them on an ongoing basis. and take the legislative steps to change what we do not favor. Let us for once attempt to remove hypocrisy and political correctness from this issue. and face the realities squarely and responsibly. If we feel the ethnic mix Is becoming unbalanced and the number of immigrants is too high. for the sake of our survival as a Nation. we must take the difficult but necessary steps to correct the situation. As the 1994 U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform. chaired by the late Barbara Jordan. stated in its report on page 1. "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." As the Jordan Commission pointed out. we need to address legal immigration as well as illegal. and we need to install an enforcement system that makes it far harder to overstay visas. I hope we can get a time certain to consider S. 1665. on legal Immigration and find a way to engage the other body on that matter.