Speech #1040267203

There is good reason why no Democratic member except for one signed the conference report. Democratic members who had worked hard on this legislation along with their Republican colleagues from its inception were completely shut out of the conference process. There was no consultation with Democrats over the past 5 months after the House and Senate had both passed immigration bills of their own. Democratic members went to the conference meeting yesterday not knowing what was in the final product and were not given the opportunity to offer amendments despite the fact that the proposed conference report contained many new items and quite a few that were outside the scope of the conference itself and no vote was taken on the report. And now here on the floor we are being asked to endorse this egregious practice by adopting this rule. We should not do that. we should defeat this rule or. failing that. we should defeat the conference report itself. Mr. Speaker. those of us who represent communities where large numbers of immigrants settle have been working hard for a number of years to get Congress and the administration to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States. Many of us have also been trying to slow the growth or slow the rate at which legal immigrants are flowing into our country. Our efforts have been supported by not only people who are affected directly by rapid population growth resulting from immigration. but also by the vast majority of Americans everywhere. More than 80 percent of the American people. according to poll after poll. want Congress to get serious about stopping illegal immigration. and they want us to reduce the rate of legal immigration. Unfortunately. this legislation would do neither. This measure is a feeble and misguided response to one of the most significant problems facing our Nation. For us to spend as much time and energy as we have identifying ways to solve our immigration problems and then produce such a weak piece of legislation is. I think it is fair to say. a travesty. and eventually the American people. perhaps soon. I hope soon. will understand that we have not fulfilled our responsibilities in this matter. If we truly care about immigration reform. we must vote down this conference report today so that the Congress and the President will be forced to revisit this issue next year. Otherwise. I am afraid the Congress and the administration will have an excuse to put this issue aside and it will be years again. literally years. before we get really serious about stopping illegal immigration and reducing legal immigration. One of this bills greatest defects is its lenient treatment of employers who hire illegal immigrants. An estimated 300.000 illegal immigrants settle permanently in the United States each year. As we all know. virtually all of them are lured here by the prospect of jobs which they are able to obtain because the law allows them to prove work authorization through documents that can be easily forged. That will continue to be the case despite this legislations reduction in the kinds of documents that can be used to prove work eligibility.