Speech #1100051636

Crime in our border communities is increasing and overwhelming local law enforcements ability to address these challenges. Socalled coyotes. or human smugglers. charge thousands of dollars to bring people into this country. creating a multimillion dollar industry for organized criminal organizations to exploit and fuel their other illegal activities. In fact. several reports have indicated there is more money in smuggling these undocumented immigrants into our Nation than smuggling drugs. However. history proves it Is not enough to rely on enforcement alone. even though I am totally for the enforcement. Over the past two decades. the Federal Government has tripledtripledthe number of Border Patrol agents and increased the enforcement budget tenfoldtenfold. Yet. despite tripling the Border Patrol and increasing the budget tenfold. these efforts have yet to stop those who have either crossed the border or overstayed their visas. So it is about border protection. but it is also about a more comprehensive effort to make sure you deal with the pushandpull factors of immigration. Securing our borders is the first step to ensure an orderly. fair. and smart immigration system. but by no means is it adequate in isolation. We must also crack down on companies that illegally hire undocumented workerssomething that is long overdue. I know under the Clinton administration. employers were held accountable for hiring undocumented workers. as 417 businesses were cited for immigration violations in 1999 alone. In contrast. a mere threethreeemployers were issued notices of intent to fine by the Bush administration in 2004 for similar violations. making it 22 times more likely for an American to be killed by a strike of lightning in an average year than prosecuted for such labor violations. So much for enforcing the existing law. What happened in the span of those 5 years? What happened? Did companies suddenly decide to start abiding by the law by not hiring undocumented immigrants? No. The truth of the matter is. similar to border enforcement. this administration made a conscious decision to look the other way in order to once again serve the interests of corporate America to the detriment of average American citizens. That is why I support stronger immigration enforcement not only at the borders but at the workplace. Unscrupulous companies that intentionally hire undocumented immigrants do so because they know they can exploit these people without fear of retribution. They know this because undocumented immigrants are forced to hide in the shadows of society and subsequently have no avenues to report labor abuses. Not only does this hurt the immigrant being exploited. it also directly impacts American citizens who must compete in the market with exploited labor. We must immediately end these abuses and in doing so create an equal playing field to ensure that the wages. benefits and health and labor standards of the American worker are not undercut. .While securing our borders and enforcing strengthened workplace employment laws will enable us to regulate the influx of new immigrants. it does nothing to solve our current dilemma of an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants who currently reside in the United States. That is why our immigration policy must be about more than simply enforcement. It must be about providing a safe. orderly. timely. and legal process that deals with the economic realities of our time. So in order to make our immigration system overall workable. we must be practical. fair. and humane in dealing with the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. To do otherwise would require the most massive roundup and deportation of people in the history of the worldin the history of the world. I believe this is both highly unlikely and impractical on many levels. including due to both budgetary and economic impacts on the Nation and its economy. Such a mass deportation of the undocumented population. even assuming 20 percent could leave voluntarily if such a policy was enacted. would cost us over $200 billion over a 5year period. according to the Center for American Progress. That is not going to happen. So fully securing our borders is impossible unless efforts to include a temporary guest worker program and a path to earn residence for undocumented immigrants is part of the overall reform. This solution will encourage immigrants to come out of the shadows and legalize their status. By doing so. we will learn who is here to seek the American dream versus who is here to destroy it through criminal or terrorist acts. Most of the people who cross our borders come looking for work. as many of our ancestors did. These immigrants contribute to our economy. provide for their families. and want a better life for their children. Let me say I am. first and foremost. in favor of hiring any Americanany Americanwho is willing to do any job that is available in this country today or tomorrow. but lets remember the jobs we are talking about. The fruit you had for breakfast was picked by the hands and bent back of an immigrant laborer. The hotel room and bathroom you use in travels through the country is likely cleaned with bended knee by an immigrant worker. The chicken you had for dinner yesterday was likely plucked by the cutup hands of an immigrant laborer. If you have an infirmed loved one. their daily necessities are probably being tended to by the steady hands and warm hearts of an immigrant aide. Let us remember that. So we have to create an equal playing field to ensure that the wages. benefits. health. and labor standards of the American worker are not undercut. But it is also in our best interests to have these workers participate and contribute to our society. especially when we had a 4.5percent unemployment rate in April of this year and a declining ratio of American workers to retirees. By coupling enhanced enforcement efforts with new immigration and labor laws. we will not only regulate how workers come into the country but finally give our border and law enforcement agencies a fighting chance to fulfill their duty. Now. much of what the underlying bill does meets some of these challenges. and I respect those elements. But I wish to talk about one very compelling issue that 1 believe it does not meet: the importance of family. I said throughout the negotiations that were had. with a massive. complex bill such as this one. the devil is in the details. There are a number of details in this deal that would create an unfair and. in my mind. impractical immigration system. undercutting the more sensible provisions. This is especially true when it comes to the issue of family. The deal struck virtually does away with a 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 family structure. and all without a single hearing on the issue of family and our immigration system by the Senate Judiciary Committee. either in the 109th or the 110th Congress. Under this bill. they change the fundamental values of our immigration policy by making an advanced degree or skill in a highly technical profession the most important criteriathe most important criteriafor a visa. This Nation has been built by immigrants who came here to achieve success. but the deal tilts toward immigrants whose success stories are already written. They are already written. Family reunification will be deemphasized under this deal. serving to tear families apart. From a moral perspective. this undermines the family values I hear so manyin different contextsso many of my colleagues talk about all the time. As the late Pope John Paul II said: The church in America must be a vigilant advocate. defending against any unjust restriction of the natural right of individual persons to move freely within their own Nation and from one Nation to another. Attention must be called to the rights of migrants and their families and to respect for their human dignity. Practically speaking. a breakdown of family structure often leads to a breakdown of social stability. I took it to heart when President Bush said: "Family values dont end at the Rio Grande." but this agreement. similar to his proposal before it. belies those words. Yet here we are with a piece of legislation which the White House promoted that undermines the very essence of that. Even under a new point structure that is envisioned under the bill. it seems to me that the essence of family should be given more weight and points within the context of a whole new process of how we are going to move our immigration system forward. Family. I would hope. even under a new system. is a critical value. in our country. I would like to take a little time to get into some of the details of this agreement and how they would impact families. Under current law. foreignborn parents of U.S. citizens are exempt from green card caps when applying for legal permanent residency as they fall in the immediate relatives category. Now. remember. this is someonea U.S. citizen alreadya U.S. citizen or a U.S. permanent resident who has a rightwho has a rightto claim their relative. In this case. I wish to talk about parents. Unfortunately. the agreement removes these individuals from the immediate relative category and sets an annual cap for green cards for parents of U.S. citizens at 40.000. Last year. 120.000 visas were given to such parents. and the annual average number of green cards issued over the past 5 years to parents is 90.000. so this bill would slash required green cards by more than half for a U.S. citizen to be reunified with their mother or father. So we are automatically creating a new backlog. even though the bill is intended to end such family backlogs. Another area that would be negatively impacted under the deal is the spouses and minor children of legal permanent residents of the United States. The bill before us does not lift the visa cap on the spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents:. it actually lowers it. ensuring that backlogs continue indefinitely. The separation is not only immoral in my mind. but it exacts an economic toll. as lawful immigrants who are productive members of society move to rejoin their families. Moreover. unification with immediate family members gives rise to an undesirable incentive to break the law and live in the United States illegally. Families want to migrate to each other. and that is a natural. human instinct. We undermine that in this respect. Now. the socalled "grand bargain" also moves us to a pointbased immigration system which would turn current immigration on its heada system that hasnt received any hearings by the Judiciary Committee. Yet. in the agreement. we are moving to a point system that is geared toward people with degrees who are highly skilled or educated. Fine.