Speech #1040272255

Mr. President. I rise to speak on the continuing resolution and. specifically. the immigration bill. which deals with illegal immigration and which has been added as a portion of that bill. Few issues are more clearly and unequivocally the responsibility of the Federal Government than the issue of immigration. whether it be lawful or unlawful. Legal immigration. the threads from which our Nations rich tapestry is woven. is a matter of national policy. and. in fact. no nation on Earth has as a liberal policy and takes in more people from other countries each year than does the United States of America. The ability to absorb newcomers becomes a question of resources. a reflection of our values. values of selfsufficiency. responsibility. respect for our laws. family unity. and the legacy of this country as a Nation of immigrants. Illegal immigration. however. is a matter of law enforcement -whether it is enforcing our borders. enforcing our laws against working illegally or hiring someone to work illegally. It is the Federal Governments responsibility to enforce these laws. Unfortunately. this job has not been done well over the years. and the prohibitions against illegal immigration. while on the books. have meant very little in reality. The cost of the failure to act on this responsibility has been very high. Warning signals have been coming for years: Communities are demanding action against: the growing crowds of illegal workers looking for day labor on street corners. lawsuits demanding Federal reimbursement for the cost of incarcerating. educating or providing health care for illegal aliens. "English only" laws are being discussed. expressing concerns about the inability of teachers to teach in schools. Many in California have dozens of different languages. As a matter of fact. there has been a report that 67 different languages are spoken in a single elementary school. It is very difficult for teachers to teach under these circumstances. There is also a rise in discrimination. and even vigilantes at airports looking for illegal immigrants. A study just released by the Public Policy Institute of California sheds some light on the rise in animosity toward illegal immigrants. The study shows that the level of illegal immigration into California during the 1980s was substantially higher than previously thought. Researchers estimate that as many as 2.2 million illegal immigrants settled in California during the 1980s. their migration soaring along with the California economy. comprising as much as 22 to 31 percent of all newcomers to the State during that period. This is the point. As the States economy stalled in the 1990s. the research indicates. interestingly enough. that illegal immigration dropped to about 100.000 a year. So as the economy of a given area gets stronger. the job magnet attraction for illegal immigration increases. When an economy worsens. that job magnet attraction clearly decreases. I came to this body in 1993 after having run for Governor of my State 3 years before. I knew then as I traveled through my Stateand I learned it very clearlyin 1989 and in 1990 that this was going to be a growing issue. and that the need for change was becoming more urgent. As a newcomer to this body. I stood in the Chamber on June 30. 1993. and told my colleagues that I believed we needed to take action to stem illegal immigration. that the impact on my State had become enormous. and that failure to do so would only bring about a backlash. At that time. I introduced a bill to beef up our borders and stiffen penalties for document fraud and for employing illegal workers. I tried to get myself on the Immigration Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee. where I have served with the distinguished Presiding Officer these past 2 years. But this body did not act. The House did not act. Within a year. in California. organizers were circulating petitions to put proposition 187 on the ballotby far. the most draconian and punitive antiimmigration measure seen in this country for many decades. and for the first time it targeted children. It took the approach of requiring that teachers and doctors report anyone suspected of being here illegally. Essentially. if a youngster were in school and looked different or talked different and the teacher suspected they might be illegal. it was that teachers lawgiven obligation to report that youngster to the INS.