Speech #1100070134

There were parts of the legislation which were very good. and hopefully we can find a way to bring them into law at another time. But there were parts in that legislation which needed to be fixed. I. personally. as the Presiding Officer knows. attempted to get an amendment through the Senate that. in my view. would have brought fairness to the issue of legalization and practicalityfairness in the sense that the proposed bill was going to legalize every individual. virtually. who had come to the United States In violation of American laws by the end of last yearand I felt strongly for a good bit of time that those who came during a period of lax immigration laws and who were able to put roots down into the community should be provided a path toward citizenship. I made this case during the campaign last year. and by saying that last year. I was viewed to be sort of on the forward edge of where this debate was going to go. But this bill. by reaching out and including virtually everyone who had been here by the end of last year. inflamed the passions of a lot of people in this country who otherwise would support fair immigration reform. At the same time. the amendment I offered also proposed to eliminate what is called the touchback provision. which would have eliminatedfor those people who had been here for 4 years and had put down rootsthe necessity for them to go back to their home country in order to apply for a green card. I think that approach was fair. I regret that the amendment didnt pass. At the same time. I and a number of other people found it impossible for us to vote for the bill as it was coming up with the provision that was so much broader. The bottom line on immigration now is there are laws on the books. We have seen a lot of talk over the past day or so that immigration reform is dead. These comprehensive immigration reform packages have a way of falling under their own weight because the issue itself is so complex. What we should be doing now. in the next year and a half or so. given that there is an election. is to do everything we can to enforce the laws that are on the books. One idea I like is the $4.4 billion recommendation that was put into title I of this immigration bill that just failed that would go toward border security. and employer certification could well be added to any appropriations bill. where the measure would be relevant and could help existing law. So for those who are attempting to say that all immigration reform has now skidded to a halt because a flawed bill was not passed by this body. I say lets enforce the existing laws. There are a lot of laws on the books.