Speech #1090119093

And that really is a shame. That is the benign neglect that I talk about. But comprehensive immigration reform has to. it must. begin with securing our borders. If you do anything else without securing the borders. it does not make any difference. E 2215 The porosity of our borders makes it so that is imperative. and the national security. as I mentioned. depends on border security. We need to know who is coming into the country. We need to know where they are from. and we need to know what they are doing here. No immigration. no reform of the immigration system will be successful unless Congress makes the definitive commitment. has the willpower to make the commitment to ensure that the agencies that are responsible for stopping illegal immigrants have the resources that they need to get the job done. That just makes sense. Without properly securing our borders. we remain vulnerable. I dont think anybody would deny that we remain vulnerable to those who may want to enter our country undetected and do us harm. We must ensure that our Border Patrol agents have the resources and the manpower and the technology to do their jobs. I understand. and all of us understand. that America is a nation of immigrants. We are all here by virtue of somebody coming here from somewhere else at some point that allowed us the wonder and the glory and the good fortune and the blessing of being born or allowed to be a citizen of the United States of America. We are also a nation of laws. We are a nation of laws. and I think it is extremely important that we appreciate that indeed America has been built on the hard work and the innovation of immigrants. without a doubt. and our country thrives on new ideas. and fresh energy that so many of our legal immigrant groups continue to bring. It is part of what makes our country great without a doubt. We will remain a nation of immigrants. regardless of what we do in this legislation. because the number of legal immigrants that we welcome to our shores every year is significant. We invited over 1 million new permanent immigrants last year. much more than any other nation on the face of the earth. We accept over 6 million applications. 6 million applications. Mr. Speaker. for immigration and immigration benefits each year. But America. again. has been founded on the principle and the respect for the rule of law. Those who enter our country illegally disrespect those laws. and they take advantage of a very generous immigration system and a very generous society. We have got to find a comprehensive solution. a comprehensive solution that acknowledges the important contributions of legal immigrants and what they do to make our country great without rewarding illegal behavior. It is imperative that we remove that magnet of illegal employment and enable employers to be able to determine whether their workers are legal or illegal. I think it is important when we talk about the employer verification aspect of the bill that we passed. and of any reform mechanism. that we make certain that we communicate to our employer community that we are not asking them to be policemen. and that the Federal Governments responsibility is to make certain that they are able to access real information in real time to be able to determine whether an employee that is coming to their place of work and asking to be hired. whether or not that individual is here legally.