Speech #1090119545

Madam President. I wish to talk about immigration reform and border security. In particular. since this debate will be continuing for this week and the next. I want to emphasize the importance of border security. and. obviously. enforcement begins at the border. But before I talk about border security and enhanced enforcement. I want to address the issue of the 12 million immigrants who are already here who have come to this country in violation of our immigration laws. We know why people come to America. It is the same reason they have always come: because too often they have no hope and no opportunity where they live. So we understand at a very human level why it is that people want to come to the United States. Yet I think we all acknowledge America cannot open its borders to anyone and everyone who wants to come here or we would literally be drowned in a wave of humanity. We have to regain control of our broken immigration system. and that means to deal with enforcement at our borders. to deal with enforcement in the interior of our country. and to deal with verification of the eligibility of prospective employees to actually work legally in the United States. We cannot repeat the mistake this Nation made with the 1986 amnesty bill. I remind my colleagues that in 1986. that legislation required illegal aliens to pay a fee. to learn English. to improve themselves by working in this country for a set time. I also remind my colleagues that everyone agrees on two points when it comes to the 1986 experience with the amnesty bill. No. 1. they agree it was amnesty. And No. 2. they agree it was a complete and total failure. I will continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to find a solution to this great crisis that confronts our country. but I wont accept a repetition of the mistake of 1986 when this country granted amnesty in the hopes of that being the end of it and in the hopes that there would be a reciprocal obligation on the part of the Federal Government to actually sanction employers who violate our immigration laws. I am afraid the numbers speak for themselves. with 3 million illegal immigrants who benefitted from the amnesty and now roughly 12 million who are here awaiting the next amnesty. Thus we can see what a magnet amnesty becomes and why it is so counterproductive. I am proud to represent a border State. the great State of Texas. and I know from personal experience what problems the border States face. I know the strains that illegal immigration and our broken borders have placed on local taxpayers when it comes to education. when it comes to health care. and I know the anger and frustration that many people feel at the Federal Governments abject failure when it comes to enforcing our immigration laws. I also know the nature of immigration across our borders is changing. There is more and more violence on the northern border of Mexico in cities such as Nuevo Laredo. I have listened to the concerns of my fellow Texans. including ranchers and those who are well accustomed to the movement of people across the border into the United States who want to work here and who then go back home with the savings and skills they have established. I have listened to the ranchers and the Good Samaritans who live and work along the border who were happy to lend a helping hand to the occasional traveling immigrant worker. to those seeking a better life. But I have to tell you. these people are now scared. They are terrified because drug smugglers and human traffickers are wreaking havoc along our Nations borders.