Pt. 9 12983 after it was amended twice on the floor to increase those fines. That does not even Include the cost of their trip to "touch back" when they seek to become a permanent resident. Unable to pay these fines and fees. some of the undocumented workers will be unable to come out of the shadows and into the light of Americans progress and promise. Giving people the opportunity to come out of the shadows is an essential and necessary component of immigration reform because it will allow us to recognize who is here to seek the American dream versus who is here to destroy it through criminal or terrorist acts such as those which were recently almost carried out at Fort Dix in my home State of New Jersey. If we had the right set of standards. which I envision us having in our bill. and people would come forward. we would have caught those individuals by the background checks we would have conducted. But for those people to come forth. obviously. there has to be some sense that in fact there is a real opportunity. otherwise. no one will come forward. They also propose virtually doing away with provision for family reunification which has been the bedrock of our immigration policy throughout our history. This idea not only changes the spirit of our immigration policy. it also emphasizes the family structure. If this system had been in place when my mother and father attempted to come to this country. they certainly would not have qualified. As I have listened to the stories of so many of our fellow colleagues in the Senate and in the House of Representatives.
Keywords matched
family reunification immigration undocumented