Speech #1090118275

It will raise wages at the bottom rungs of the ladder. and this will benefit all American workers. There is another huge cost and danger to allowing the status quo to continue. The current system has driven undocumented workers deep underground. We are not able to document. track. or control who is within our borders. This is the ideal environment for alQaida and others who aim to penetrate our society. Because of our preoccupation with chasing down undocumented immigrants. we are diverting scarce resources from addressing the real threats to our national security. and this needs to change. Instead. we are tracking down gardeners and dishwashers. lets focus on those who really want to do us harm. Throughout Americas history. the subject of immigration has lent itself to fearmongering. demagoguery. and simplistic socalled solutions. But to our creditand to Americas great social and economic benefitwe have listened to the better angels of our nature. We have refused to slam the door. We have been true to our tradition as a nation of immigrants. Today. once again. we are challenged to rise above fear and prejudice and to do the right thing. Legally or illegally. immigrants will continue to come to America as they have for four centuries. We need smart immigration reform. reform that will protect our borders. crack down on employers who hire those who are unauthorized to work. while creating a guest worker program that gives immigrants the opportunity to earn legalization and to have family reunification. In closing. I commend the Judiciary Committee for sending to the floor a bipartisan bill that would accomplish these important things. It would bring undocumented Immigrants out of the shadows so we know who they are. where they live. where they are from. and so we can identify any who could be a threat to our homeland security. It would allow earned legalization for those who pass security background checks. It is going to take more than 10 years for an undocumented immigrant to demonstrate that he or she is a person of good moral standing. is paying taxes. learning English. and has paid the necessary fines. These people will not jump ahead of anyone who is already in line for citizenship. I want to stress that point. There is a thought: Oh. they will get in front of everybody. That is not true. not under the bill from the Judiciary Committee. They would work 6 years before they could apply for legal permanent residency or green card status. and after that they would work for another 5 years before they could apply for citizenship. During this process. they would have to pay a fine. and with those fines would help pay for this system. Last. we dont need a wall around our borders.