I thank the Senator from California for the passion she brings to this Issue in pointing out the fact that. indeed. there are major industries in this country that are desperately in need of a labor pool. Agriculture. as the Senator has so articulately pointed out. construction. the tourism industrythree industries that affect our State and the Senators Stateall three of those industries are enormously important. If we want to do something for immigration and actually make what is. in effect. amnesty now. because the law is not being obeyed. at the time the Senator and I served in the House of Representatives in the 1980s. in which we voted for that immigration bill. there were only an estimated 2 million people in the country illegally. Now It has swelled to something like 12 million. Amnesty is the condition we have right now because the law is not being obeyed by the people who are supposed to obey it and the U.S. Government is not enforcing the law which allows all the more illegal entrants into the country. The solution. in the interest of the United States. it seems to me. to get our hands around the problem of illegal immigration. is to pass a law that has some teeth. that will be obeyed and. at the same time. provides the labor pool so we do not wreck our economy in the meantime. The Senator from California has just pointed out industries in her State. agricultural interests in her State that. in fact. are having difficulty getting workers to harvest the crops. It is another one of the little ironies. that people are saying amnesty. amnesty. amnesty. amnesty. and what we have right now because the law is not being obeyed. We ought to pass a bill. a bill that controls the bordersof course. there are more reasons for controlling our borders than just immigration. with terrorists coming into our countrya bill. in addition. that will address the labor needs.
Keywords matched
illegal immigration immigration