[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 7 (Wednesday, January 28, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S312-S313]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           IMMIGRATION POLICY

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I rise to say a few words about our 
Nation's immigration policy.
  Early this month, I applauded President Bush by talking about his 
principles which he believes ought to be embodied in comprehensive 
immigration reform. The President spoke courageously and forthrightly, 
and I urge Congress to heed the President's call.
  We must acknowledge the truth. We need to be honest. The fact is, we 
have done far too little to repair a system that calls out--indeed, a 
system that cries out--for reform. Our homeland security demands an 
accounting of the identities of an estimated 8 to 10 million 
individuals currently living illegally in the United States, including 
their reason for being here and allowing an informed judgment on 
whether they pose a danger to us. For those who are deportable 
criminals, that judgment must be swift and sure.
  The truth is the vast majority of undocumented immigrants in this 
country are not here as drug dealers, violent criminals, or terrorists. 
Rather, they are here doing the best they can to work hard so they can 
provide for their families. We can no longer deny the sheer number of 
undocumented individuals or the extent of our economy's dependence on 
the labor that they provide, nor can we ignore the horrible costs that 
many of these individuals pay when it comes to human smuggling.

  In the wake of 9/11, much of the increased enforcement effort that we 
have made in terms of our border security has succeeded in blocking off 
the easiest transit points along our border, but that only means they 
resort to more remote and dangerous areas to cross, and sometimes with 
deadly results.
  These individuals are also relying more on human smugglers, known as 
coyotes. Hundreds of undocumented individuals have died in the past 2 
years. An immigration policy that ignores the reality of human 
suffering and death cannot be tolerated in a humane society.
  For too long, the political extremists have dominated the debate 
about immigration. There are those who say they want to build a wall 
around our country, and others, on the other end of the spectrum, who 
cry for unconditional, complete amnesty. But both of these extremist 
proposals are unrealistic, and they leave many problems unanswered. 
What America needs instead is a comprehensive and fundamentally strong 
immigration system that bridges the gap between our economic and 
security needs. I believe a comprehensive, commonsense guest worker 
program is a critical first step toward fixing our immigration policies 
and adapting to modern realities. That is why last summer I introduced 
the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2003. I urge my 
colleagues to educate themselves about the contents of this bill and to 
recognize that we must act to bring our broken immigration system into 
the 21st century.
  Here are the key elements of my proposal. We need immigration reform. 
I believe we need an immigration system that will put homeland security 
first. Any reform of our immigration laws must be able to distinguish 
between the benign and the dangerous. Our law enforcement resources, 
limited as they are, must be able to be focused and dedicated to 
hunting down the real threats to our Nation, whether they are the 
smugglers, the drug dealers, or the terrorists, not simply those who 
are merely looking for a better life for themselves and their loved 
ones.
  Currently, the whereabouts of 80,000 criminal alien absconders, 
aliens who have been convicted of a felony and ordered deported, is 
simply unknown to our Government. They vanished and we don't know where 
they are. They are running free within our borders.
  In addition, we don't know the whereabouts of hundreds of thousands 
of other undocumented aliens who are under final orders of deportation. 
They simply have no other appeal, they are under final orders to leave, 
and they simply, again, melted into America.
  This must change. Our immigration authorities must be given not only 
adequate funding and resources but adequate priorities as well. They 
must be allowed to spend more time on those who are a threat to us and 
not just those who come here to perform work that Americans by and 
large will not perform. Ignoring the problem--something we have done 
for some time now--won't solve any of our border security or 
immigration problems, and it will not make our Nation any more secure. 
Identifying, detaining, and deporting real threats to our Nation and 
our families will.
  Second, my bill will help bring millions of current undocumented 
immigrants out of the shadows and under the rule of law and onto the 
tax rolls. Under my proposal, guest workers will no longer fear the 
authorities but, rather, will come to see the law as an ally and not as 
an enemy. This, in turn, will help protect immigrants from exploitation 
and violence and help end the death dealing of human smugglers. We must 
bring these workers out into the open, out of the shadows, out of the 
cash economy, and onto the tax rolls, which I believe will ultimately 
help restore respect for the rule of law.
  Third, our immigration system must give a real incentive for 
undocumented workers who come to this country to work on a temporary 
basis. It must give them a real incentive to ultimately return to their 
home country. I believe my proposal is unique in this respect--
something we call ``work and return.'' My proposal gives undocumented 
immigrants a real reason to come out of the shadows, to work within the 
law, to be accounted for, and then to return to their homes and their 
families in their home country, with the pay and the skills they 
acquire as guest workers in the United States.

  In my recent visit with government leaders in Mexico City, I was 
repeatedly told that Mexico wants, indeed Mexico needs for its young, 
energetic risk takers and hard workers ultimately to come back home, 
and particularly to come back home with the capital and savings and the 
skills that they acquire when they work in the United States. They need 
these people to come back to their home country and to buy a house, to 
start a business, so that these small business owners, these potential 
entrepreneurs, can help strengthen the middle class in countries like 
Mexico. But our current immigration policy fails to give undocumented 
immigrants any real incentive to make a return to their home country.
  Of course, I have mentioned Mexico, but this would hold true for many 
other countries that would also be covered by this program.
  The fact is, there will be no end to illegal immigration across our 
southern border without economic recovery south of the border. Those of 
us in America cannot afford for our southern border to remain a one-way 
street.
  Guest workers should, yes, be allowed to come out of the shadows and 
register for a program that will allow them to transit back and forth 
across the border in a way that they do not have to turn their lives 
and their fortunes over to coyotes and human smugglers. But ultimately 
real reform would make sure that these guest workers, after working 
here temporarily in the United States, must return to their country of 
origin.
  President Bush called us to this task in his State of the Union 
speech just a couple of weeks ago now. I believe we in Congress have a 
duty to confront this challenge. We should hide our head in the sand no 
longer. We cannot, in my view, simply ignore the fact that there are 
literally hundreds of thousands of people under final orders of 
deportation. There are 80,000 criminal

[[Page S313]]

alien absconders currently loose in this country, and our law 
enforcement authorities simply don't know where they are. But as for 
those who are not a threat, those who want nothing more than the 
opportunity to work temporarily and return to their homes with the 
savings and the skills they need in order to have a better life in 
their home country, I believe we must move these temporary workers out 
of the shadows. We must at the same time ensure the security of our 
borders. We must restore respect for our law, and we must bring our 
broken immigration system into the 21st century.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Alexander). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

                          ____________________