Speech #1090120143

There has to be a showing. If this guestworker program is to succeed. it must be properly calibrated to make certain that these are jobs that cannot be filled by Americans. or that the guestworkers provide particular skills we cant find in this country. I know that dealing with the undocumented population is difficult. for practical and political reasons. But we simply cannot claim to have dealt with the problems of illegal immigration if we ignore the illegal resident population or pretend they will leave voluntarily. Some of the proposed ideas in Congress provide a temporary legal status and call for deportation. but fail to answer how the government would deport 11 million people. I dont know how it would be done. I dont know how we would line up all the buses and trains and airplanes and send 11 million people back to their countries of origin. I dont know why it is that we expect they would voluntarily leave after having taken the risk of coming to this country without proper documentation. I dont know many police officers across the country who would go along with the bill that came out of the House. a bill that would. if enacted. charge undocumented immigrants with felonies. and arrest priests who are providing meals to hungry immigrants. or people who are running shelters for women who have been subject to domestic abuse. I cannot imagine that we would be serious about making illegal immigrants into felons. and going after those who would aid such persons. That approach is not serious. That is symbolism. that is demagoguery. It is important that if we are going to deal with this problem. we deal with it in a practical. commonsense way. If temporary legal status is granted but the policy says these immigrants are never good enough to become Americans. then the policy that makes little sense. I believe successful. comprehensive immigration reform can be achieved by building on the work of the Judiciary Committee. The Judiciary Committee bill combines some of the strongest elements of Senator HAGELs border security proposals with the realistic workplace and earnedcitizenship program proposed by Senators MCCA1N and KENNEDY. Mr. President. I will come to the floor over the next week to offer some amendments of my own. and to support amendments my colleagues will offer. I will also come to the floor to argue against amendments that contradict our tradition as a nation of immigrants and as a nation of laws. As FDR reminded the Nation at the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty. those who landed at Ellis Island "were the men and women who had the supreme courage to strike out for themselves. to abandon language and relatives. to start at the bottom without influence. without money. and without knowledge of life in a very young civilization." It behooves us to remember that not every single immigrant who came into the United States through Ellis Island had proper documentation. Not every one of our grandparents or greatgrandparents would have necessarily qualified for legal immigration. But they came here in search of a dream. in search of hope. Americans understand that. and they are willing to give an opportunity to those who are already here. as long as we get serious about making sure that our borders actually mean something. Todays immigrants seek to follow in the same tradition of immigration that has built this country. We do ourselves and them a disservice if we do not recognize the contributions of these individuals. And we fail to protect our Nation if we do not regain control over our immigration system immediately. Mr. President.