Speech #1100054120

At the time they pay their penalty. they have to pay $1.000. After they pay their penalty of $1.000. they have to pay $1.500 dollars to get their Z card application. and then 3 years later they have to pay another $1.500. at 8 years of going through this purgatory where we require them during those 8 years to take English classes. to make sure they stay out of trouble with the law. to make sure they are gainfully employed. If they survive that 8year pernod of purgatory. at that period of time they have to pay an additional amount of money in order to get their green card. When you add up all of that money they have to pay. you are talking about somewhere in the neighborhood of $8.000. That is not amnesty. That is people having to pay a very significant fine and take on a very significant number of affirmative actions that ultimately. after waiting for a period of 8 years. might qualify them to get a green card. For those who cry the word "amnesty" when we talk about immigration reform. they are continuing to play into the hands of those who want to make a political debate with no end. They believe if you label people who are for comprehensive immigration reform with the word "amnesty." somehow it will never get done. That is the donothing crowd. In fact. that is what happened in the House of Representatives last year. when in this body. in a bipartisan vote. Democrats and Republicans coming together. passed comprehensive immigration reform. The other body. the House of Representatives. then decided they did not want to take it upnot because of the national security issues that are at stake. not because of the economic security issues which might be dealt with in this legislation. not because of the human and moral Issues which are at stake in the immigration reform debate. they did not want to take it up in the House of Representatives. the then Republican majority did not want to take it up in the House of Representatives simply because of the fact that they thought it was their trump card to keep the majority in the November elections. So those who parade around the country with the shrill cry of "amnesty" are doing the American people a great disservice. What they are doing is they are playing politics and having politics trump the national interests.