Speech #1090075620

Mr. President. I rise today to address a serious threat facing our Nationillegal immigration. Despite successful efforts by me and other Members to increase border patrol forces. add new detention facilities. and improve border monitoring. the problem of individuals entering our country illegally continues to impact communities across the country. Just last year. the number of immigrants entering our country illegally outnumbered those entering through legal means. While legal immigration contributes to the diversity and uniqueness of our society. illegal immigration undermines the system and weakens the legitimate process by which people can enter our country. With the Census Bureau estimating that 10 to 11 million people reside in our country illegally. clearly our strategy in confronting this issue must change. Immigration and naturalization are constitutionally defined powers granted to the Federal Government. As such. many view the issue of immigration as strictly a Federal burden. to be addressed by Federal legislation. policies. and payment. While immigration policy is certainly initiated at the Federal level. one cannot ignore the inherent truth that the impact of illegal immigration is predominantly manifested in our State and local communities. often in the form of overwhelmed emergency rooms. overburdened school systems. and overcrowded prisons. Our local communities often find themselves with little recourse or ability to address the pervasive and crippling effects of a broken immigration system. These effects. of course. are not confined to our southern border regions. but rather they reverberate across the country. The countrys immigration system is long overdue for a comprehensive overhaul. and I commend the efforts being made by a number of my colleagues to generate attention to the need for comprehensive immigration reform. Ideas are being proposed to improve avenues for legal immigration. enhance enforcement capabilities. and address the growing presence of illegal immigrants with nationalities other than Mexican. While I applaud these proposals and eagerly await our opportunity to discuss them. I believe it is essential that we recognize the role our State and local communities can have in addressing illegal immigration. particularly when it comes to the area of enforcement. As such. I am introducing legislation today to solidify the right and opportunity of our State and local governments to enforce the lawimmigration law. Historically. the authority for State and local law enforcement officials to enforce immigration law has been limited to the criminal provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act. these include acts such as physically crossing the border illegally. By contrast. the enforcement of the acts civil provisions. which include apprehension and removal of deportable aliens already in the country. has been strictly a Federal responsibility. with States