[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 65 (Wednesday, May 20, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H3494]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             IMMIGRATION REFORM AND IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 1998

  (Mr. ROGERS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Speaker, are my colleagues tired of hearing about 
thousands of felons being naturalized as American citizens by an agency 
out of control? Are my colleagues tired of having lost control of our 
borders? Are they tired of a bureaucracy that allows millions of 
illegal aliens simply because they overstayed while on a legal visa?
  Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing legislation to overhaul and 
dramatically improve the Nation's immigration system. The bill would 
enact the reforms proposed by the bipartisan Commission on Immigration 
Reform, headed by the late Barbara Jordan.
  These reforms, received by Congress last year, are based on the most 
comprehensive bipartisan study of our immigration system to date and 
they offer a common-sense approach to fixing a system that is broken, 
failing the citizens it is supposed to protect and the immigrants it is 
supposed to serve.
  Since 1984, the Congress has increased the budget of the INS by over 
600 percent, yet illegal immigration is at an all-time high and service 
for illegal immigrants is at an all-time low. Money is no longer an 
excuse. By implementing these changes, we can end the 3-year backlogs 
in benefits processing, end the granting of citizenship to criminals 
and other undeserving individuals, and end the mismanagement of our 
entire immigration system.

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