Speech #1040265472

One reason is that if they are to be selfsupporting adults. if they are to have an acceptable quality of life and become good citizens or residents of the United States of America. they need an education. Second. if they are not in school. they are going to be on the street. and there will be problems of delinquency. there will be problems of juvenile crime. The answer is not to exclude illegal alien children from having an education. but instead to tighten up the restrictions on illegal immigration and to protect our borders. The immigration bill which is now pending in the HouseSenate conference will be a significant step forward in reform. to reform the immigration laws. to protect U.S. borders. to provide for expeditious treatment of immigrants who are illegally in the United States. to deport those immigrants in accordance with our laws. It is said that the education of illegal alien children is a magnet to draw illegal immigrants into the United States. The answer is not to exclude those children from education. but the answer is to protect American borders so that the illegal immigrants do not gain access to the United States. do not enter the United States. and that children are not here. posing a significant problem in terms of their conduct on delinquency and crime and in terms of their conduct when they grow to adults. assuming they stay in the United States. There have been those who say that it ought to be the financial responsibility of the Federal Government to pay the cost of education. and I am in agreement with that principle. Mr. President. It has been a failure of the Federal Government to protect U.S. borders. I think it is fair to respond that it ought to be the obligation of the Federal Government to pay to educate the illegal alien children that it has allowed to enter. However. the answer is not to deny those children education while they are in the United States. Mr. President. I believe it is very important to make sharp distinctions as to how we treat children of illegal immigrants from how we deal with the problem of illegal immigration generaly. The way to deal with the problem of illegal immigration is to protect our borders. It is not to deny education to children once they are in the United States. Neither is it sound. sensible. or fair to deny citizenship to children who are born in the United States to immigrants who have illegal status. The hallmark of America. the hallmark of the Statue of Liberty. and the hallmark of the melting pot is to respect the status of American citizenship of any child born in the United States. That is a matter. Mr. President. that I feel particularly strong about since both of my parents were immigrants. They both came to the United States legally. that is. to the best of my knowledge. information. and belief they came legally. My father came from Ukraine in 1911literally walked across Europe. sailed at the bottom of the boat. in steerage. to come to America to find an opportunity for himself and his children. Harry Specter. my father. didnt know that he had a roundtrip ticket when he came herenot back to Ukraine but to France. and not back to Paris and the Follies Bergere. but to the Argonne Forest. where he served in the American expedition forces to make the world safe for democracy. with shrapnel in his legs until the day he died. My mother came with her family as a child of 5 from a small town on the RussianPolish border. I believe with legal immigrant status. although I would be hard pressed to prove that my parents were legal immigrants if someone were to challenge the status of ARLEN SPECTER as a citizen of the United States. But when we deal with the problem of illegal immigration. or legal immigration. we have to have a very. very sharp focus on what is appropriate public policy. The bill in its final form. in my judgment. is somewhat too harsh in taking away benefits from legal immigrants and denying some benefits to other immigrants. But I think reform is necessary. and the compromise that has been worked out is a reasonably good compromise. and if we find problems. we can correct them at a later date. But I want to repeat that it is obnoxious. unfair. and unAmerican to deny U.S. citizenship to anyone born in this county. no matter what their status. I am glad that the bill before us does not incorporate this proposal. The conference report has been held up for a very protracted period of time over the Gallegly amendment because there is so much sentiment in the Congress that we ought not to deny education to children regardless of their immigration status. There has been the threat of a veto from the White House. But I think it is highly unlikely that the conference report could pass the Senate with the Gallegly amendment in it.