[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 66 (Wednesday, May 24, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H3215]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2245
                          ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McHenry) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. McHENRY. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to comment upon a very large 
issue on our national landscape, and that is illegal immigration. One 
of the underreported and often unreported issues is the ham-handed 
approach the government bureaucracy has when dealing with those that 
try to come to this country legally.
  I have a constituent, Mete Adan, in my district, born in Turkey, who 
has spent the past 16 years, Mr. Speaker, trying to become a U.S. 
citizen the right way, the legal way.
  He is a legal immigrant to this country. And my office has worked 
with him since September of 2005 helping him cut through the 
bureaucratic red tape and the outdated immigration process.
  Due to the inefficiency of our current system, which, Mr. Speaker, I 
must say processes over 7 million immigration applications per year 
using paper printouts. While you have Amazon.com processing millions of 
orders a day and transacting money, our bureaucracy is processing 7 
million applications each year using paper.
  So Mete's case has been a 2\1/2\ year debacle within this 
bureaucracy, marked by mistakes, errors and blunders. Cases like this 
are happening all across our Nation. That is why we need a new system, 
a new technology, to deal with those that are trying to come here 
legally.
  Mete said, ``I am still waiting. And these guys are coming up from 
Mexico to get citizenship and do not deserve it: He said. They do not 
even speak English. Now, Mr. Speaker, this gentleman studied medicine 
in his own country and has come here in and worked legally. Legally. He 
has worked legally as a computer programer. This gentleman is very 
highly trained and a good potential citizen for our country.
  And let me tell you, Mr. Speaker, the USCIS, the Citizenship and 
Immigration Services, are the ones that are mishandling this. It is 
also the same bureaucracy that the Senate wants to saddle with 
processing 10 to 20 million illegal aliens for a guest worker visa. It 
is simply not possible. They process as I said, 7 million applications 
each other using paper printouts. When they do use computers, it is 
Windows 95, technology that is over 10 years out of date.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I ask that we have a reasonable immigration 
enforcement policy, and that we also fix this outdated dysfunctional 
bureaucracy, so that we can process those that are trying to come here 
legally. And beyond that, perhaps at some future date, not now though, 
at the some future date, look at a reasonable fashion to bringing 
people here in a more reasonable way.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my constituent, and hopefully a 
new American citizen, Mete Adan. I appreciate his diligence in trying 
to do this the legal and right way. He is a testament to all of those 
legal immigrants that want to come and participate in the American 
dream. It is a strong story that we should all be proud of, of someone 
who wants to be American and hungers for freedom and the values of our 
society.
  He is someone we should welcome to the United States. We should not 
have an amnesty program. We should have not a guest worker program. We 
should not have any of the other steps that the Senate is talking about 
in these current days.
  Mr. Speaker, we should have a reasonable proposal and a reasonable 
way for people to come here and immigrate and be a part of our society. 
But say no to amnesty, to have border security and to do it the right 
way, while encouraging those that are doing it the right way, like Mete 
Adan.

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