Speech #1100057308

That. in turn. takes away the incentive to hire foreign workers over U.S. citizens and ensures that working conditions for all workers dont sink to a lowest common denominator. It is a critical protection that is lacking from this bill. Because I believe the temporary worker program as currently drafted will foster illegal immigration and will not sufficiently protect U.S. and foreign workers. I voted for Senator BINGAMANS amendment to limit the scope of the program and Senator DOaclANs amendment to sunset the program in 5 years. Unless and until the structural problems with the program are fixedand I hope they will bewe should not be putting in place a permanenit program of the magnitude contemplated by the original bill. Another serious flaw in the bill is its inclusion of multiple "triggers"-enforcement requirements that must be fulfilled before other critical reforms could begin. While these provisions are designed to further the second core goal of immigration reformpreventing a future flow of illegal immigrationthey will have exactly the opposite effect. History tells us that an ".enforcementonly" approach simply doesnt work: the probability of catching an illegal immigrant has fallen over the past two decades from 33 percent to 5 percent. despite the fact that we have tripled the number of border agents and increased the enforcement budget tenfold. True border security requires both increased enforcement measures and the creation of adeqiuate legal channels for immigration. including programs to bring needed foreign workers into the U.S. and to allow undocumented immigrants who pass background checks to earn legal status. These measures allow us to separate those who are here to work and contribute to our communities from terrorists and others who pose a serious threat to this Nation. so that our immigration enforcement agents can focus their efforts in the right place. Postponing these measuresas this bill doesmakes us less safe. not more. The bills solution to the third challenge of immigration reformshaping the contours of legal immigrationis a radical shift away from family reunification. That solution is not consistent with the core values of this Nation. In the past. our immigration laws have acknowledged that our country and our communities are stronger when families are united. But under this bill. it will be much harder for U.S. citizens and legal immigrants to be reunited with parents. siblings. and adult children. Some of my colleagues argued that this shift in policy is a necessary step toward embracing a -meritbased" system of immigration. But I believe there is a great deal of merit in keeling families together. And I dont believe that bringing people with useful skills to this country can only be accomplished at the expense of family unity.