[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 53 (Wednesday, April 27, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H2627-H2628]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 REAL SOLUTIONS FOR IMMIGRATION POLICY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to continue my 
ongoing efforts to offer real solutions to fix our immigration system 
and to highlight the real contributions of our Nation's immigrant 
community.
  Last week, we talked about CNN's Lou Dobbs and his ``Broken Borders'' 
segment. We talked about how Mr. Dobbs uses his show to offer a venue 
to anti-immigrant extremists. We talked about how, between all of his 
regular guests, one would be hard-pressed to find a solution to the 
challenges we face, because they would rather demagogue and divide than 
offer tangible ideas or pragmatic proposals. I guess they think it is 
better for ratings, better for raising money for their organizations, 
or better for riling up their membership.
  Well, let me say this: It is not better for America. It is not better 
for America to do nothing about an immigration system that hurts 
families, hampers businesses, and harms communities.
  So, this evening, I thought we could continue our discussion on 
mending borders, and I thought we could do it by answering a few 
questions that Mr. Dobbs left unanswered at the end of his show last 
week.
  Let me start with Ray from Michigan's comment. Ray wrote the 
following to Mr. Dobbs: ``Isn't hiring illegal aliens just another way 
to outsource labor? The money doesn't stay in the United States.''
  Well, Ray from Michigan, since Mr. Dobbs did not refute the 
inaccuracy of your statement, let me point you to a recent study by the 
Inter-American Development Bank.
  According to the study, approximately 16.7 million U.S. workers born 
in Latin America had a combined gross income of $450 billion last year, 
of which 93 percent was spent locally. That means billions of dollars 
spent at local stores for local services, that means hundreds of 
thousands of jobs created. Just look at Chicago. According to a study 
by the Center For Urban Economic Development at the University of 
Illinois, the estimated 220 undocumented immigrants in the Chicago

[[Page H2628]]

area alone added $5.5 billion to the local economy, creating more than 
31,000 jobs.
  So I would simply and respectfully say to Ray from Michigan that 
immigrants make enormous contributions to our economy and to our 
communities, and we should work together to create a system that allows 
them to come out of the shadows and work here legally, safely, and 
humanely.
  Now, let's go to Judy in Belvedere, Illinois. Judy wrote the 
following to Mr. Dobbs: ``I feel like this country is finally waking up 
to the fact that the illegal population is draining our country of 
millions of taxpayers' money.''
  Let me respond with a few points, the first being that all immigrants 
pay taxes, income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, gasoline taxes, 
cigarette taxes, every tax when they make a purchase. As far as income 
tax payments go, sources vary in their accounts, but a range of studies 
find that immigrants pay between $90 billion and $140 billion in 
Federal, State, and local taxes.
  And let us not forget the Social Security system. Recent studies show 
that undocumented workers sustain the Social Security system with a 
subsidy as much as $7 billion a year. Let me repeat that: $7 billion a 
year.
  Mr. Speaker, I know I have provided a lot of facts and figures this 
evening, so let me close with a newspaper quote describing immigrants: 
``These people are by their nature unruly and not fit for civil society 
and government. We have little hope of containing them, other than by 
force of law.''
  Somebody writing to Lou Dobbs? No. The source of the quote, an 
editorial in the esteemed New York Times. In their defense, it was in 
1895.
  And what unruly, ungovernable misfits was the New York Times writing 
about? Italian immigrants.
  Now, my point in reading this quote is not to be critical of the New 
York Times or, let me be clear, to say anything disparaging about 
Italian immigrants.
  My point, I hope, is obvious.
  Uncertainty and fear and ignorance about immigrants, about people who 
are different, has a history as old as our Nation. Boston and 
Philadelphia papers in the early 19th century editorialized against the 
Irish who they said were ruining our Nation, for the only real 
Americans, those, of course, being of English ancestry. It is not new 
or unusual for the real Americans, meaning those immigrants who came to 
America a little bit longer ago, to fear the outsiders, the pretenders, 
the newcomers. But I think we have an obligation to set the record 
straight.
  Because the truth is, today's immigrants, as they have for generation 
after generation, work the longest hours at the hardest jobs for the 
lowest pay, jobs that are just about impossible to fill. They pick our 
fruit, they care for our children and elderly, they change bedpans, 
they clear our tables and wash our dishes. And they do those jobs not 
because they want to take away anything from America, but because they 
want to give their skills, their sweat, their labor, for a better life 
and to help build a better America, just as those who came before them.
  I hope we in this body can work in a bipartisan manner to ensure that 
our immigration system can better reflect their contributions.

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