[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 36 (Tuesday, March 28, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H1170]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Davis of Kentucky). Under a previous 
order of the House, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Grijalva) is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to acknowledge and lend 
support to the well over 1 million people who marched across American 
cities and towns in a peaceful, nonviolent way for fairness, dignity, 
and humane and respectful treatment of immigrant workers in our Nation. 
This ground swell of humanity wanted some very simple things. They 
wanted the principles of fairness and equal protection under the law to 
be applied in a fair and just way.
  The people who marched are for comprehensive, reality-based 
immigration reform by this Congress, a reform that acknowledges the 
economic value, necessity and, yes, indeed, the codependency of our 
economy on the immigrant workforce; that also recognizes the inherent 
value of human beings and reaffirms the process of rigorous examination 
and process to attain permanent legal status and eventually 
citizenship. And it reaffirms a reality-based immigration reform, 
reaffirms the need for security in this country by assuring that the 
people that work here, that function here, are not hidden in the 
shadows but part of the workforce, integrated into that workforce and 
protected by the same laws and principles that all working people in 
this country enjoy.
  I think what is happening in this country on the question of 
immigration is really about the future of our country. We have, as a 
Congress, a choice on immigration reform. We should not continue on the 
path set by this Congress in the Sensenbrenner bill, a bill that asks 
us to criminalize 11 million human beings in this country, that raises 
the specter of mass deportation and that ignites a flame of intolerance 
and division that this country is not about.
  We don't need a path to create second-class citizens. We don't need a 
path that hides from our economic reality. We don't need a path that 
ignores the business interests. We don't need a path that forgets 
fairness and equity under the law. And we don't need a path that 
creates division and discrimination as a rule of law.
  We cannot shun our values as an immigrant nation. This is a wrong 
path. And while possibly it is a short-term political victory based on 
division and based on creating a wedge issue that splits people in this 
country, it is a long-term defeat for this Nation.
  I believe that we can do better. We can create a situation for the 
people of this country and for the immigrant workers in this country 
that is not blanket amnesty, that is not about open borders, that 
understands security is a priority issue, but also understands that 
comprehensive reform is the most important way to deal with this issue.
  So let us not, as we debate this issue and as we continue to grapple 
with this very vexing and complex issue, let us not forget we are 
dealing with human beings, let us not ignore our economic reality, and 
let us put together a comprehensive package that accommodates both 
those realities and at the same time reaffirms the traditions, the 
values, the hopes and the aspirations of immigrants that have made this 
country what it is, that will strengthen it in the future, and that 
will continue the progress and the enlightenment this Nation needs.

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