Speech #1090117348

Mr. President. we are about to begin this week a very significant discussion. debate. and. hopefully. passage of some legislation to address what is one of the crucial public policy issues we have as a country. which is the question of how we handle immigration. We are. obviously. a nation which has been built on immigrants. Every one of us in this country. except for Native Americans. comes from a family that came from somewhere else and immigrated to this country. It is a part of our heritage of which we are most proud. the fact we have been able to assimilate cultures from around the world and bring them to the United States and create America. We should take pride in something that sets an example for the rest of the world to show that people can gather and can live together and can be productive and can produce a nation founded on democracy. freedom. liberty. individual rights. and heritageheritage which has built a matrix of strength for us as a nation as we bring together peoples from different cultures and we form an America. E Pluribus Unum. the line above the Presiding Officer of the Senate. says it so well: From many. one. We are. therefore. a nation which needs to have an immigration policy which understands that. which. first and foremost. appreciates and continues to reward the idea that there are people from around this world who wish to come to America to participate in this country and to make us a more productive place in which to raise their children and to assist us as a nation in being stronger economically. socially. and from a standpoint of inner strength we obtain from having so many different people participate in our country. We always want to be that beacon. that light upon the hill that draws the world to us. As long as people want to come to America. we know we are doing something right. and we should take great pride in it. We continue to be a place where people want to come and. as a result. we do have issues of how we deal with immigration. But most importantly. as we move down this road. we have to recognize it is critical that we not do anything which tarnishes or chills or in any way undermines that great tradition of America. which is that we reach out our arms to people who wish to come here and be productive and participate in our way of life. However. unfortunately. over the last few decades. and especially in an accelerated way as we moved through the nineties and moved into this first decade of 2000. we have seen that a large number of people are coming into our Nation illegally. They are not following the course which is available to become an American citizen legallyto immigrate here. to take advantage of our system. and to build on the opportunities that are here but to do it legally. That has become a problem for us. It is a problem. obviously. from the standpoint that it violates our laws.