[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 138 (Monday, September 30, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1860]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




AUTHORIZING STATES TO DENY PUBLIC EDUCATION BENEFITS TO CERTAIN ALIENS 
               NOT LAWFULLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED STATES

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. PATRICK J. KENNEDY

                            of rhode island

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 25, 1996

  Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to oppose H.R. 
4134 on behalf of a generation of children who will be left to twist in 
the wind because they have been denied an elementary education.
  I agree that measures should be taken to discourage and prevent 
undocumented individuals from entering our country. I will not support, 
however, any mean spirited, punitive attempts to secure our borders 
that will devastate numbers of children because of the sins of their 
parents.
  Are we, as a body, going to reduce ourselves to mistreating little 
children because we are angry that their parents have not complied with 
our laws? The obvious recourse would be to punish their parents or 
proactively prevent them from immigrating here unlawfully. What good 
will it do to ban their children from attending public school? In the 
long run, it is the children of American citizens that will also be 
punished, because they will be forced to deal with the tragedy of a 
population of uneducated immigrants.
  It sickens me to think of the discrimination that will inevitably 
result as parents will be forced to prove that their children are 
indeed legal. Unfortunately, those children who look foreign will be 
forced to prove that they are, in fact, Americans. Be assured that the 
children whose ancestors are Irish, or British or Dutch or French won't 
be asked to prove their legality--they can easily pass a American.
  Since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was implemented, we have made 
enormous strides in our quest for an eqalitarian society. This bill 
will only take us back to a dark period in our Nation--one in which 
those who looked different from the majority were treated as second-
class citizens.
  What good will it do us to leave a generation of children--most of 
whom were born here and are American citizens--uneducated, unskilled, 
and downright hopeless? In an era when we are intent on reducing crime, 
cutting Government spending, and helping American families strive for a 
better living standard, relegating thousands of children to a lifetime 
of virtual poverty as a consequence of their lack of education is 
morally reprehensible, politically irresponsible, and fiscally 
imprudent.
  Need I remind my colleagues of the numbers of organizations, 
including every major law enforcement organization in the United States 
are opposed to this measure. They recognize that putting thousands of 
kids on the streets will not decrease illegal immigration but only 
promote crime, gangs and drugs, and place enormous strains on the 
cities and counties that will be forced to deal with these problems.
  I ask my colleagues, will you feed, clothe, house, and offer work to 
this generation of uneducated adults?
  Certainly my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have not fully 
ingested the ramification of this potentially devastating legislation. 
I urge my colleagues to vote against H.R. 4134.

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