Speech #1140013750

I have an amendment pending on this bill to change that policy. to end birthright citizenship. I would like to read a statement on the subject: The American people are upset. and I think they have a right to be upset. but they are upset for a reason. Our immigration policies. regulating all aspects of entry to the United States. have simply ceased to function in the national interest. "Immigration policy" and "national interest" are terms that are rarely heard in the context of immigration. We seem to have lost sight of the fact that it is a public policy and. like all public policies. our immigration policy should serve the public interest. But they do not. Let us talk about legal immigration. We now admit the equivalent of a major city every year. without having the vaguest idea of how we will educate all the new children. care for the sick. provide housing. jobs. build infrastructure. or attend to any of the human needs of the newcomers or those already here. Mr. President. each year. we admitI repeat the equivalent of a major city. We admit more people each year than make up some of our States. We admit a new State with legal immigrants every year. At a time of huge budget deficits and severe financial constraints. we have no idea of how these huge costs will be borne. We just do it. We admit the equivalent of a major city without any assessment of whether these newcomers are likely to be contributing members of our society. Only a tiny fraction of those admitted each year enter because they have skills and abilities that will benefit our country. The rest come merely because they happen to be relatives of other recent immigrants. The result of this socalled policy is that there is now a backlog of almost 31/2 million people the population of a city the size of Los Angeles who have a claim to immigrate to the United States for no other reason than they are somebodys relative. Is this really a way to run immigration policy? If making it easy to be an illegal alien is not enough. how about offering a reward for being an illegal immigrant? No sane country would do that. right? Guess again. If you break our laws by entering this country without permission and give birth to a child. we reward that child with U.S. citizenship and guarantee full access to all public and social services this society provides. And that is a lot of services. Is it any wonder that twothirds of the babies born at taxpayer expense in countyrun hospitals in Los Angeles are born to illegal alien mothers? This is not my statement. This is Senator HARRY REIDs statement on the floor of the Senate. including his strong support for an end to birthright citizenship. that he gave on September 20. 1993. to which I refer my colleagues attention.