Speech #1090061479

Mr. President. earlier today. Chairman SPECTER of the Senate Judiciary Committee convened a very important hearing addressing one of the most urgent matters confronting our Nation. that is. the need to fix our broken immigration system. I want to speak a few minutes about a proposal that I have made. along with my colleague from Arizona. Senator KYL. together representing two border States. ones that perhaps have the most experience with this issue because of our proximity to the border with Mexico. In summary. this bill strengthens our border enforcement while It comprehensively reforms our immigration system. Unfortunately. the ongoing immigration debate has too often divided Americans of goodwill into two campsthose who are angry and frustrated by our failure to enforce the law. and those who are angry and frustrated that our immigration laws do not reflect reality. I have learned that those two groups. both of whom deeply care about America and axe committed to building a system that works. share more in common than they or many other people actually realize. The only groups who benefit from the current system are human smugglers. unscrupulous employers. and others who profit at the expense of people who are trying to come into this country and work through illegal channels. Unfortunately. we know that those channels are being investigated and potentially exploited by those who want to come here to do us harm. The reality is we need both stronger enforcement and reasonable reform of our immigration laws. It is my opinion that we. In the past. have not devoted the funds. the resources. or the manpower necessary to enforce our immigration laws or to protect our borders. No discussion of reform is possible without a clear commitment toand a substantial escalation ofour efforts to enforce the law. Over a series of months now. as chairman of the Immigration Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee. I have come to believe that increased enforcement alone cannot solve the problem. Any reform proposal must both serve our national security and our national economy. It must be capable of securing our country. but it must also be compatible with our growing economy. As I mentioned a moment ago. as chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration. I have worked closely with Senator KYL. who chairs the Terrorism Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee. to conduct a thorough review of our Nations immigration laws. We have covered a wide variety of subjects. and we have had the opportunity to hear from a diverse group of experts. From an analysis of how the immigration system failed on 9/11. to the role of our neighboring countries in raising living standards in their home countries. our hearings have laid a foundation upon which we have developed a comprehensive solution. one that will not result in yet another immigration crisis some 10 or 20 years down the road. We all know our immigration system has been broken for many years. First. the volume of illegal immigration continues to increase. According to the Pew Hispanic Center. there has been a dramatic increase in illegal immigration since 9/11. approximately 30% since 2000. That same organization estimates there are approximately 10.3 million illegal aliens in the United States currently. Over the course of the 1990s. the number of illegal aliens increased by half a million a year. almost matching the number of visas that Congress has made available for legal immigrants. Last year alone. the Border Patrol detained roughly 1.1 million aliens who had come across the border. Professionals I have talked with on my travels to Texas and along the border. people whose experience and professionalism I trust. estimate that we are only detaining perhaps one out of every three or one out of every four people who are coming across our borders illegally. Second. and for me the most alarming. is the information that suggests that terrorists and other criminals. including smugglers. are aware of the holes in our system.