Mr. Speaker. today I rise to acknowledge and lend support to the well over 1 million people who marched across American cities and towns In a peaceful. nonviolent way for fairness. dignity. and humane and respectful treatment of immigrant workers in our Nation. This ground swell of humanity wanted some very simple things. They wanted the principles of fairness and equal protection under the law to be applied in a fair and just way. The people who marched are for comprehensive. realitybased immigration reform by this Congress. a reform that acknowledges the economic value. necessity and. yes. indeed. the codependency of our economy on the immigrant workforce. that also recognizes the inherent value of human beings and reaffirms the process of rigorous examination and process to attain permanent legal status and eventually citizenship. And it reaffirms a realitybased immigration reform. reaffirms the need for security in this country by assuring that the people that work here. that function here. are not hidden in the shadows but part of the workforce. integrated into that workforce and protected by the same laws and principles that all working people in this country enjoy. I think what is happening in this country on the question of immigration is really about the future of our country. We have. as a Congress. a choice on immigration reform. We should not continue on the path set by this Congress in the Sensenbrenner bill. a bill that asks us to criminalize 11 million human beings in this country. that raises the specter of mass deportation and that ignites a flame of intolerance and division that this country is not about. We dont need a path to create secondclass citizens. We dont need a path that hides from our economic reality.
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immigrant deportation immigration