Speech #1090172633

The kind of comprehensive work that we should have been doing in August and we should have been doing in September turned into politics and not constructive work. I hope the House bill in front of us is not an extension of those politics and politics alone. I hope it really is meant to fit into a total package of border control and comprehensive immigration reform that allows this country and our economy and our hardworking agricultural people a legal. transparent. and open guest worker immigrant labor force. We need it. We have always needed it. We should not be denying its reality today. The Senate attempted to accomplish that. We argued mightily on immigration reform on the floor of the Senate for nearly a month. and we do not all agree because it is in itself a very contentious issue. It has all aspects of the American culture and the American emotion tied into it. But as we studied it I think a majority recognized the reality of doing the right thing. The horse and the cart have to be connected. Border control and border security is the first line of defense. and a legal structure behind it that gives employers a legal. identifiable workforce is necessary and appropriate. and they have to be connected. Let me close with this thought: We do not reform immigration laws in this country. we let them go. Politically we will not handle them. But we will continue to tighten a fence until our 2.000mile land border is complete and the border closes.