Speech #1040272526

Mr. President. I rise in support of the illegal immigration reform bill as it has emerged from conference. At the outset. I want to applaud the fact that. after considerable debate. this Congress has chosen to separate the issues of illegal and legal immigration. We should not lump legal immigrants. who play by the rules. together with illegal immigrants. who break them. Moreover. in my judgment. the best way to preserve our tradition of legal immigration is to address the publics concerns about illegal immigration. That is part of the reason why I support the bill before us today. I would also like to applaud the changes recently made to the bills income requirements for persons who wish to sponsor an immigrant. As reported out of conference. section 551 of the bill would have required individuals to earn at least 140 percent of the poverty line to sponsor a spouse or minor child. and to earn at least 200 percent of the poverty line to sponsor any other immigrantfor example. a parent. The effect of this provision would have been to block many middleclass Americans from sponsoring their close relatives. Section 551 has been revised. however. to provide that an individual who wishes to sponsor an immigrant must either earn at least 125 percent of the poverty line or obtain a cosigner who earns that much. I strongly support this change. as the revised section 551 arguably provides sponsors with more flexibility than does current law. Nevertheless.