[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 100 (Wednesday, July 9, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H6438]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          RESTORING CIRCULARITY TO MEXICAN MIGRATION PATTERNS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Flake) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FLAKE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the untenable 
situation facing our country as a result of our current immigration 
policies. I certainly do not believe that our Nation's borders should 
be left wide open. Especially today, in light of terrorist threats, we 
must keep track of who is entering and leaving the country. We can try 
to tighten up our border enforcements even more than we already have; 
but as long as the U.S. offers aliens more opportunity for work, people 
will risk their lives to cross the border.
  From 1986 to 1998, the number of tax dollars that Congress 
appropriated for the INS increased eightfold and for the Border Patrol 
sixfold. The number of Border Patrol agents assigned to the southwest 
border doubled to 8,500.
  The end result of this huge increase in enforcement efforts? More 
than 7 million illegal aliens reside within U.S. borders. How can we 
honestly tell the taxpayers that this strategy has been a success?
  The increase in border enforcement has made it less likely that 
undocumented workers who have successfully entered the country will 
return home. Crossing the border is risky, so illegal workers are 
increasingly reluctant to repeat the trip more often than necessary 
once they are here. Also, smugglers are expensive. So workers must 
remain in the U.S. longer to pay for the high cost of crossing the 
border.
  Before the Immigration Reform and Control Act, or the IRCA, became 
law in 1986, the average trip of illegal immigrants entering the U.S. 
lasted 3 years. After IRCA, the average trip length has risen to 8.9 
years. It seems that increased border enforcement has been effective at 
keeping illegal immigrants in the United States.
  The enormous rise in trip length has had a devastating effect on the 
cost of public service, particularly in my home State of Arizona. The 
longer illegal immigrants stay in the U.S., the more it costs local 
governments to provide services like health care, education, and 
criminal costs.
  Another disturbing trend is the loss of life experienced by those who 
are attempting to enter the U.S. According to the Border Patrol, 146 
aliens died in my home State of Arizona in 2002 while attempting to 
enter the country from Mexico. Nearly every day the desert claims 
another life of an illegal immigrant attempting to cross the border, 
most likely those seeking work or a chance for making a better life for 
themselves and their families.
  Is the answer to this problem to abandon any hope of enforcing our 
borders and swinging the door wide open to anyone who wishes to enter 
the country? Of course not. We can enforce our borders in a smarter way 
and greatly reduce the flow of illegal migration across them.
  Rather than denying the reality of labor migration, we should instead 
work to regularize it and manage it within a legal framework so as to 
promote economic development abroad, minimize costs and disruptions for 
the United States and maximize benefits for all affected. Congress can 
and should consider an initiative that would alleviate many of the 
burdens that Arizona and the rest of the country suffer due to the 
problem of illegal immigration.
  A temporary foreign worker program would direct the flow of workers 
into legal channels and promises to aid the government in getting a 
handle on who is here and who is crossing the border.
  I support a program that would allow these workers legal entry into 
the U.S. so that they can perform the jobs that U.S. employers are 
offering. This legal framework would allow the U.S. to collect taxes 
and would provide the workers a safe and legal way to return to their 
homes and families.
  I would submit that such a system would be far preferable than the 
status quo that we have today.

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