Mr. President. I rise in support of S. 2611. the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006. This is not a perfect bill. It is a compromise. I strongly support some provisions of this bill and I have serious concerns about others. but. on balance. I believe it is worthy of support. If we want to solve the problem of illegal immigration. we must take a comprehensive approach. We must secure our border. strengthen enforcement of our immigration laws. and address the situation of approximately 12 million undocumented immigrants who live and work in our country. In the final analysis. this bill does all of these things and that is why I will support it. I want to express my gratitude to Senator MCCAIN and Senator KENNEDY for their steadfast leadership of our bipartisan coalition for immigration reform. I also want to salute Senator SPECTER. the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. and Senator LEAHY. the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. for shepherding this bill to the verge of passage. As a member of the Judiciary Committee. and a supporter of the bipartisan McCainKennedy immigration reform legislation. I have been very involved in the debate over this bill for the past several months. The process of drafting this bill began in the Judiciary Committee in early March.
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undocumented immigration Immigration immigrants illegal immigration