Speech #1040206080

Mr. President. today the Senate passed much needed legislation to restructure our Nations laws with respect to illegal immigration. I want to take this opportunity to commend my colleagues Senator SIMPSON and Senator KENNEDY for their diligence and leadership in crafting legislation to address this issue. As this debate has shown. the highly emotional and diverse views on the issues surrounding both legal and illegal immigration makes it very difficult to get a consensus on legislation reforming our immigration laws. Despite previous efforts by Congress to control illegal immigration. the evidence shows that thousands of people cross the border illegally each year. Clearly. our Nation simply cannot continue to absorb this unregulated stream of illegal aliens. The costs to society of permitting a large group of people to live in an illegal. secondclass status are enormous. It strains not only the financial resources of our local. State and Federal governments. but also the compassion of our people. The Immigration Control and Financial Responsibility Act will help ensure that the Federal Government meets its responsibility to enforce our Nations illegal immigration policies. This legislation nearly doubles the number of Border Patrol agents over the next 5 years. authorizes an additional 300 INS investigators. increases criminal penalties for alien smuggling and document fraud. and authorizes additional detention facilities for illegal aliens. Through these increased enforcement activities. our Nation will be better equipped to stem the flow of illegal immigrants across our borders and to respond to the problems and abuses which accompany the presence of a significant illegal population. For these reasons. I voted in favor of final passage of this legislation.