Madam Speaker. the lure of employment opportunities in the United States has long been acknowledged as a major reason for immigrationboth legal and illegal. Those in Congress know Im for combating illegal immigration. As the ranking member on the Social Security Subcommittee. I. along with several of my subcommittee colleagues. offer an important new component in the immigration reform debate. Employers want. need. and deserve a reliable employee verification system. and I want to give it to them. Every day. countless immigrants enter our country seeking the economic opportunities that a job in this country has to offer. Many play by the rules. wait their turn. and obtain the proper permission to work. That is called legal immigration. and I am all for it. But when it comes to enforcing the law for those who do not play by the rules. it cant be done. That is because enforcement is based upon a failed system that is prone to both error and fraud. The result is an illegal immigrant population that has swelled by some estimates to over 12 million. This is a path our Nation cannot sustain. and the American people have rightly demanded action. The bill we are introducing today is designed to achieve three important objectives: first. ensure a legal workforce. second. safeguard workers identity. and finally. protect Social Security.
Keywords matched
illegal immigration immigrants illegal immigrant immigrationboth immigration