Speech #1090098837

But. frankly. I think 51. Pt. 21 December 15. 2005 it is overwhelming to expect that. in this short period of time. that we can answer all of the concerns of the American people and answer the question of 20 years of shortsighted enforcementonly legislation to address this question of the enormity of Illegal and undocumented individuals but. in particular. to address the question of security. That is the underpinning of this border security bill. and that is where I believe that we have a number of failures. The American people have polled repeatedly on one concept. That is whether or not they consider the immigration question a crisis worthy of our attention. But when they are asked about solutions. they specifically suggest the idea of comprehensive immigration reform. Strong enforcement at the border. which many legislative Initiatives offered by KOLBE and GUTIERREZ. offered by members of the Homeland Security Committee. offered in Judiciary. offered by H.R. 4044. the Rapid Response Border Protection bill. all had reasonable responses. enforcement and earned access to immigration. But allow me to tell my colleagues why this particular bill is going to fall on its own weight and. as I heard someone say. the wheels are going to fall off. unless we turn back the bill and work together. It is important to note that as we stand here on the floor today. there are members of the United States military on the frontlines of Iraq and Afghanistan whose family members are undocumented. We have a program that many of us supported that would allow those who are on the frontlines of Iraq to become documented. legal permanent residents. In fact. we heard a story of a young man who was killed on his way to get fingerprinted. tragically.