Speech #1060030338

I would like to tell our colleagues what some of those are. The fact of the matter is. is that when you have 1 million people in Central America who in fact have no place to call home. because I walked after the hurricane on what in essence were the rooftops. now caked in mud from the landslides and the mud slides that took place after the hurricane. on the rooftops of what were peoples homes. some of the greatest cultivated fields for production of food and agricultural products now caked over in mud. When you have 1 million people who have no place to call home. when you have 1 million people who have no place to be gainfully employed for their families. in essence when you have no hope. then ultimately it seems to me that what we find ourselves in is a situation in which they will seek to go to a place in which there might be some hope and that means coming northward. and that means illegal immigration. something that has been a great topic in this body. We would prefer to see those million people continue to reside in their homeland. continue to try to rebuild their homes and their lives and their countries and not come northward. So we have a national interest in terms of stemming the tide of those people coming. we have a national interest in the disease that is generated by a million people being exposed to the elements. in tuberculosis. in other diseases. not coming northward to the United States and in trying to help the people with their health consequences.