Speech #1090135526

But we sure have not talked about it. Have you heard the American people consulted on that? We already have a pretty generous immigration system. I submit. It brings in a million people a year. People say: Well. you have lots of illegal immigrants too. That would be 50 percent more. maybe 500.000 a year. as estimated. That is not three. four. five times the current rate. Last Tuesday. the CBO released its final score of the Senate immigration bill. They estimated that if it passes. it would result in an 8 million person increase in the population over the first 10 years. The precise estimate is 7.8 million. which can be found on page 4 of the CBO score. This estimated 8 million increase accounts for only future legal immigration caused by the bill. It does not include an estimate for the number of illegal aliens. We are not going to take that to zero. surely. Surely. we will make some progress to reduce illegal immigration. but it is not going to zero. The CBO estimate for how many in the illegal alien population would benefit from the bills amnesty provisions is contained in a separate calculation on page 22. On page 22. CBO estimates that 1 million illegal aliens will be adjusted under the AgJOBS provisions. and that twothirds of the 6 million illegal aliens here for more than 5 years. and 50 percent of the 2 million illegal aliens here between 2 and 5 years. will adjust status under the bills provisions. So according to CBO. a total of 6 million illegal immigrants will become legal permanentpermanentresidents under the bill and be placed on an automatic path to citizenship. Now. the White House. last Thursday. in a press release. entitled "Setting the Record Straight"-OKwholeheartedly embraced the CBO report and claimed that the 8 million future immigration estimate by CBO is "consistent with most research on immigration issues." The White House press release also embraced the CBO estimate on the current illegal alien population but stated it a little differently. According to the White House. CBO estimated that about onethird of illegal immigrants eligible for legalization under the bill are unlikely to become legal permanent residents. Therefore. the logical conclusion of this statement is that twothirds of the eligible illegal alien population will likely become legal permanent residents. The White House press statement directly implies that the White House does not expect more than twothirds of the illegal alien population to become legal permanent residents under the bill. If 10.3 million people have been illegally present for more than 2 years. twothirds of that number would mean approximately 7 million people now living here illegally will benefit from the amnesty provisions. This estimate7 millionis 1 million higher than the way CBO lays out the numbers on page 22 of their score.