Speech #1100028132

I thank the gentleman from Iowa. I want to move back now for just a moment and focus again on the solution to this problem of chain immigration. and we will get into further discussion of some of the many things this Congress. and the 109th Congress when we were in the majority and led this great House of Representatives. some of the many good things that have been done in regard to controlling illegal immigration. But let me just for the moment. before my colleagues some possibly have to leave. refocus on this issue of chain migration. Mr. Speaker. because we have presented the problem. We have spent maybe 20. 25. 30 minutes talking about the problem of chain migration. the one person bringing in 273 others. not based on skill. strictly being. I guess. based on the luck of your birthright. geneology. and how inappropriate that is and how we cannot afford to continue to do this. We have a solution. But Mr. Speaker. first of all. I want to call my colleagues attention to this next slide. and again. it depicts on this scale of justice. as we have here in the middle of this slide. on the one side you have an imbalance. too much emphasis. too much weight in regard to the second cousin of an immigrant. i.e.. chain migration. On the other side. however. not weighing so heavily in this scale of this balance of justice is the skilled laborer waiting to emigrate into this country. This is what this hour is mainly about. Mr. Speaker. that we need to correct this. We need to get back to what Congresswoman Barbara Jordan recommended to this House back in the early 1990s as she chaired the Commission on Immigration Reform. Basically. this is what she said. Mr. Speaker. in this next slide: Proposed tripartite immigration system. legal immigration. That basically. as I said at the outset of the hour. people come to this country first and foremost maybe as a skillbased worker. skillbased admission. or possibly on the far side of the slide. come in as a refugee for humanitarian reasons. a humanitarian admission. and then. finally. the nuclear family admissions that Congresswoman Jordan. the distinguished lady from the great State of Texas talked about. nuclear family admissions. Mr. Speaker. That is the solution to this problem. and how we got away. how we did not follow her recommendation. there were a number of things that were recommended that were enacted by this body. but we missed the most important. and that is in regard to nuclear family admissions. This print is far too small for my colleagues to see. even in the front of the room. so I want to point out. under nuclear family. the first priority would be spouses and minor children of United States citizens. under the nuclear family. The second priority would be parents of the United States citizens. and the third priority. as we talked about. would be spouses and minor children of legal immigrants. Of course. hopefully they will become and we want them to assimilate into our society. We want them to be part of this great country. the United States of America. and at that point of course they could bring their parents. both husband and wife. as part of this nuclear family.