Speech #1040272303

Mr. President. I want to speak on the bill that is before us and just on a very small portion of it. the immigration bill. Obviously. the immigration bill is not just a small portion of the bill that is before us. It is perhaps one of the most important aspects of the bill before us. But what I meant was. I do not want to speak to the appropriations part of the bill. I want to voice my strong support for the illegal immigration bill. This has been included. as everyone knows. as part of the continuing resolution. Senator SIMPSON. chairman of the Immigration Subcommittee. has worked diligently to bring this bill forward. I am very pleased to have worked with him in creating solutions to the immigration problems that our country is facing today and. also. to take time to compliment Senator SIMPSON for the hard work that he has given for the people of his State of Wyoming to the United States as a Member of the U.S. Senate. He is now retiring. Those of us who have served with him on the Judiciary Committee. and a considerable amount of time together with him on the Immigration Subcommittee. are surely going to miss his leadership in this area. This bill that is before us even under these extraordinary circumstances of its being part of the omnibus bill. even under those circumstances. should not detract from the hard work that has gone on in this Congress on this legislation that Senator SIMPSON has put together. He has produced a very strong bipartisan bill that will help us make a huge impact on the problems of illegal immigration. In the last 2 years. Senator SIMPSON has made a great effort to deal with illegal immigration. We have done it by providing over $1 billion in new funding. But we all know that comprehensive legislation. like the bill before us. is necessary before we are ever going to be successful. or whether or not even that additional billion dollars in the war on illegal immigrants is going to be successfully spent. Provisions of the bill provide for more effective deportation measures. increased border and investigative staffing. and stricter employment and welfare standards. It is exactly measures such as these that are necessary to combat the growing problem of illegal immigration. Illegal immigration is an issue that has been in the forefront of public debate for some time right now. It is a growing problem that affects even the smallest towns in the Midwest. The problem became graphic to me in January 1995 when an Iowa college student named Justin Younie was murdered by an illegal alien who had been removed from the State of Iowa once before because of his illegal status. Unfortunately. this particular illegal alien came back to the United States and to my State of Iowa without any problems. That is the case with so many illegal aliens returning. only this time. this person. this illegal alien. ended up committing murder. This person has since been convicted of this horrible crime. That does not bring back the life of Mr. Younie. But it does set the stage for a very important provision that I have in this bill allowing local law enforcement people to be involved in the arrest of an illegal alien if the only thing they have done wrong is being in this country illegally. I know it is not understandable to people who for the last 20 years. there has been a regulation saying that local law enforcement people cannot arrest an illegal alien just because they are here illegally. But that is the situation. We have another example beyond this murder of the reach of illegal immigration. and it was featured in the U.S. News & World Report of September 13. 1996. and on the cover story. It addressed illegal immigration and its effects on the small town of Storm Lake. IA. Specifically. the article focused on the meatpacking industry. which. since its opening in 1982. has experienced a large influx of illegal immigrants. The effects on the town of Storm Lake have been very significant. Along with a population increase has come increased crime rates. increased education expenditures. racial problems. and economic concerns causing great resentment within the community. According to the article. the increase in illegal immigrants to the town can be attributed to the job opportunities offered by this meatpacking industry. Apparently. workers are recruited by immigrants already working at the plant. Once these workers are recruited. they illegally cross the border. obtain a false identity. and begin work. As workers are injured. or the plant is raided by the INS. new workers are hired to fill the empty positions. This process ensures a continuous demand for workers which has been so steady that it has reportedly spawned a sort of underground railroad from Mexico to the town of Storm Lake. IA. It is because of situations like thesethe meatpacking story in Storm Lake and the murder of Justin Younie in Iowathat the illegal immigration conference report is being discussed here today. Provisions in this act address illegal immigration problems at every level. from Border Patrol to deportation. The act takes direct steps to reduce crime associated with illegal immigration and provides States with incentives to do the same. Among the hundreds of provisions in this bill are a number of initiatives that I fought for as a member of the Judiciary Committee and. as well. as a conferee. For instance. this bill allows the Attorney General to enter into agreements with local law enforcement. permitting. as I said. for the first time since 1977 local authorities to apprehend. detain. and transport illegal aliens. This is an especially important step for the interior States. such as my State of Iowa. that are distant from the borders. Just a few weeks ago local police had to release a truckload of illegal aliens because the INS wouldntor. as they might say. "couldnt"-respond just then. But they used the argument that there were less than 20 illegals in the group. So it was too small of a group for them to mess around with. Obviously. it is better from that judgment to wait until they find their way into a job and into the underground economy. get lost. and then spend thousands of dollars more to apprehend the very same people. But they were in the custody for a short period of time of these local law enforcement people. So it is obvious that local law enforcement needs more tools like we are now providing to fight illegal immigrants. In addition. because of my insistence. the conference included a guarantee that each State will have at least 10 agents. This will help States like Iowa that do not have any agents right now when illegal immigration is growing at a rapid pace. The conference committee also included a provision of mine to exempt nonprofits and churches from the timeconsuming and costly paperwork of verification and deeming. Unfortunately. the administration made the mistake of demanding the provision be changed in the lastminute negotiations last week on title V.