[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 22, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H5612-H5618]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 18, 2007, the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher) is 
recognized for 60 minutes.
  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Madam Speaker, a tsunami of illegal aliens is 
sweeping into our country, crowding our classrooms, closing our 
hospital emergency rooms, unleashing violent crime, and driving down 
wages.
  This is not theory. It is a harsh, threatening reality borne out not 
by numerous academic studies, but by the life experiences of the 
American families from California to Georgia and from Iowa to New 
Jersey.
  Our middle class is being destroyed. Our communities are not safe. 
Our social service infrastructure is collapsing. And, yes, it has 
everything to do with illegal immigration, illegal immigration which is 
out of control. And year after year, while our schools deteriorate and 
our jails fill and our hospital emergency rooms shut down, the elite in 
this country turns a blind eye to the disaster that is befalling the 
rest of us, their fellow Americans. The elites obscure the issue and 
maneuver to keep in place policies that reward illegal immigrants with 
jobs and benefits, and now, of course, being rewarded with citizenship.
  This country, the upper class says, can't function without cheap 
labor.

                              {time}  2130

  Well, cheap to the captains of industry and the political elite, but 
painfully expensive to America's middle class. It's our kids whose 
education is being diminished, our families who are paying thousands 
more in health insurance to make up for the hospital costs of giving 
free service to illegals. It's our neighborhoods who suffer from crime 
perpetuated by criminals transported here from other countries. And, 
yes, our livelihoods are being dragged down as wages are depressed and 
anchored down by a constant influx of immigrants, mostly illegal, some 
with H1B visas, willing to work at a pittance.
  Big business, with its hold on the GOP, in an unholy alliance with 
the liberal left coalition that controls the Democratic Party, have 
been responsible for this invasion of our country, this attack on the 
well-being of our people. This coalition gives the jobs and passes out 
the benefits that lured tens of millions of illegals to our country. 
It's no accident. This predicament was predictable. It's been over 20 
years of bad policy in the making. If you give jobs and benefits, the 
masses of people over there will do anything to get over here. And 
that's what we've been doing. Give it and they will come. Surprise, 
surprise.
  Now the out-of-touch elite has introduced yet another piece of 
legislation, this so-called comprehensive reform bill that they claim 
will fix our illegal immigration crisis once and for all. Of course, 
this is a crisis they created. They are trumpeting the supposedly new 
enforcement measures and security measures that will be initiated in 
this bill, the border fence, new agents, new employer sanctions, if 
only we will swallow hard and give amnesty to those law-breakers who 
are already here.
  Like Lucy holding out the football for Charlie Brown to kick, the 
bill is yet another effort to trick us. It's an illusion, a scam that 
will make things worse, not better.
  The Senate legislation now being touted by Senator Kennedy and a few 
Republican Senators immediately legalizes the status of 15 to 20 
million illegals, while offering more border control, yes, fences and 
Border Patrol agents and such, as sweeteners aimed at getting us to 
accept this deal.
  But we've already passed legislation addressing border security. It's 
already into law. It's already against the law, for example, to hire 
illegals. We've already mandated a stronger fence and more Border 
Patrol agents. So, in reality, this legislation isn't about those other 
things which they're trying to get us to support the legislation about; 
this is only about legalizing the status of 15 to 20 million illegals 
and then finding new ways to get more immigrants into our country. It 
has nothing to do with controlling the flow of illegals and controlling 
the flow of immigrants into our country, as much as it is expanding the 
number of immigrants, legal and illegal, coming into our country.
  In such situations as we find ourselves in today with this 
legislation, it's fashionable on Capitol Hill to say ``the devil is in 
the details''. And this

[[Page H5613]]

bill has enough demons to open up a whole new level of hell.
  Let's start, first and foremost, with the most obvious lie, the claim 
that this bill does not give amnesty to illegal aliens. President Bush 
has done great damage to his credibility by playing such word games. My 
friends, the first thing this bill does is legalize 15 to 20 million 
people who now illegally reside in our country. I don't care what the 
President calls it, it immediately legalizes the status of millions who 
are here illegally.
  Under the proposed legislation, this amnesty, and that's exactly what 
it is, is now called a probationary Z visa. Upon passage of this bill, 
every illegal alien who can claim they were here in the United States 
by January 1 of 2007 can apply for a probationary Z visa that grants 
them immediate legal status to be in the United States.
  Listen carefully. Immediately upon this bill's passage, there is no 
waiting for triggers or clarification or bureaucratic benchmarks, their 
status is immediately legalized. It is very straightforward. These 
probationary visas are available immediately upon the passage of this 
bill, 15 or 20 million illegals immediately legalized in their status 
here.
  What message does this send to the 100 million or so people who are 
waiting overseas? The 15 to 20 million newly legalized immigrants will 
be quickly followed by 50 to 100 million more illegals flooding our 
system beyond the point of return. If we let that happen, this will be 
a catastrophic event of historic proportions. More importantly, for the 
American people, it will be a calamity for their communities and for 
their families.
  According to this so-called immigration reform bill, how does an 
illegal become legal? Well, first of all, he temporarily, right off the 
bat, becomes legal once this bill passes. Very simple, if he wants to 
make himself legal, then beyond that, he or she walks in and applies. 
Or he or she just, they don't have to pay back taxes; they don't have 
to do anything else.
  If this bill passes, he or she doesn't have to go through health 
checks. They don't have to have any other process. They will be 
granted, immediately after the passage of this bill, legal status to be 
here, legal status that is supposedly temporary. Supposedly. The 
illegal pays a fine of $1,000 for this probationary visa, not the 
$5,000 that we've all heard about. It's $1,000. And for $1,000, one can 
obtain the legal right to work in this country, to participate in our 
Social Security system, to be protected by our laws, and given benefits 
from our government, a plenty good bargain for them.
  But for the taxpayers it's worse than a raw deal. Yes, out of the 
shadows will come 15 to 20 million people who will now be demanding 
equal rights to live here freely, to get jobs, to consume resources 
that they are not now entitled to consume because they are now here 
illegally.
  There is another detail that makes this process dangerous and 
unworkable. The government, according to this legislation, has only 1 
business day to act once an application has been submitted, and that is 
just 1 day to look over that application and to approve it. After 1 
business day, that's 24 hours, the government must issue the amnesty to 
that applicant.
  Is there anyone who doesn't understand that this means huge numbers 
of criminals and, yes, terrorists, who will obtain the legal right to 
live and work here in the United States under this rule because of this 
legislation? One day to oversee this applicant?
  One needs to ask, who is writing such obvious insanity into Federal 
legislation? Obviously, whoever is insisting on a 1-day review, that 
must be followed by an approval if one doesn't object; 1-day review, 
obviously, the person who's advocating this doesn't care about us at 
all. He's looking to make sure that we treat those people who are in 
this country illegally better. This person obviously doesn't care, 
who's written this into our Federal law, or is trying to, doesn't care 
if Americans are victimized by criminals who should never have been 
permitted to come here, but will come here because we're only requiring 
1 day to determine if they can be approved or not.
  Now, you think that criminals throughout the world and even 
terrorists don't see this as a vulnerability? Who's trying to foist 
this off on us? Who's trying to write this into Federal law? They're 
not watching out for the interests of the American people.

  This Z visa gives illegal aliens exactly what they want, the legal 
right to work in the United States, and the Z visa is renewable every 4 
years, without limits. The way this bill is written, you can live in 
the United States until you die by renewing your Z visa every 4 years.
  Fellow Americans, who love this country, word games aside, this is 
amnesty of the worst possible sort. Millions of illegals who broke the 
law will be granted legal status and can stay in this country as long 
as they please. In fact, I predict millions of people who are currently 
holding valid student and tourist visas will immediately apply for the 
Z visa. And why not? Student and tourist visas expire. The Z visa won't 
expire; every 4 years you can just renew it.
  Only if the alien wishes to become a citizen do the increased fines, 
that $5,000 we've heard about, only if they want to become a citizen do 
these fines and other requirements come into play.
  No serious person in the immigration reform movement has ever said 
that it is citizenship that defines amnesty. Amnesty is not being held 
to account for breaking the law. This Z visa goes beyond not punishing 
law breakers. It actually rewards law breakers.
  Wake up, America. Someone is giving away our country. Someone is 
betraying the interests of the American people. The perpetrators of 
this crime want low wages for the benefit of business and they want 
political pawns for the benefit of the liberal left.
  This legislation will make a bad situation that we all know exists in 
this country, it'll make it dramatically worse. Is this what the 
American people are calling for when they want comprehensive 
immigration reform? They want something that will make it worse than we 
have it today?
  I don't understand how we can stand and let this happen to our 
country. It is up to us to make sure that it doesn't.
  This legislation is a declaration of war on the American middle 
class. And not only will this legislation increase illegal immigration, 
a clause in the bill will create a rush to the border. Section 601H5 
states that anyone arrested trying to cross into our country, who then 
claims to have formerly lived in the United States will be allowed to 
apply for a Z visa; which means they can be approved in 1 day.
  This is a mind-boggling incentive for fraud. Who wouldn't want to 
come across the border on the chance that they could bluff their way 
into getting amnesty and becoming eligible for all our government 
programs and eligible for the jobs that should be going to Americans?
  Expect to hear ballyhoo about the tough enforcement mechanisms and 
the ``triggers'' built into this bill. But don't believe it; it's just 
so much more fraud, more flim-flam. The triggers and other schemes in 
this bill are a farce.
  There is no reason these safeguards against illegal immigration have 
not already been implemented. They are now simply being used as a ruse 
to disguise the one goal of the elite, and that is to legalize the 
status of those millions who are already here illegally and leading 
tens of millions more to come here.
  The bill calls for 18,000 Border Patrol agents. That's one of the 
claims of why we have to support the bill. We're going to get 18,000 
Border Patrol agents. But we already have 15,000 Border Patrol agents. 
And in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, 
it's required that there be 2,000 new Border Patrol agents each year 
through 2010. So this is simply smoke and mirrors.
  What this new legislation does is simply reiterate hiring mandates 
that are already in the system, already mandated by law. This bill 
simply takes credit for the hard work that's already been done. Of 
course, they're doing that because, again, it's a cover for their 
attempt to legalize the status of 15 to 20 million illegals and, yes, 
to unleash a flood of millions more to come into our country.
  On another level, how does anyone expect to actually meet the goal of 
increasing the ranks of the Border Patrol when this administration 
throws Border Patrol agents into prison and gives immunity to alien 
drug smugglers? This administration has lost the confidence of the 
Border Patrol.

[[Page H5614]]

  And I submit at this time a statement by the Border Patrol Agents 
Council opposing this legislation. I would like to put this into the 
Record at this point, Mr. Speaker.

[From the National Border Patrol Council of the American Federation of 
                  Government Employees, May 17, 2007]

     Senate Immigration Reform Compromise is a Raw Deal for America

       More than a century ago, the philosopher George Santayana 
     sagely observed that ``those who cannot remember the past are 
     condemned to repeat it.'' The United States Senate would do 
     well to heed that advice as it once again debates immigration 
     reform.
       In 1986, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control 
     Act. At that time, it was estimated that between three and 
     four million illegal aliens were living in the United States. 
     The bill promised to crack down on the businesses that hired 
     illegal aliens and step up border enforcement efforts. Since 
     those measures would finally solve the problem of illegal 
     immigration, Congress reasoned, there would be no harm in 
     establishing a pathway to citizenship for those who had been 
     working in this country for a minimum period of time. It was 
     assumed that about one-half million people would qualify for 
     that benefit under those terms. In the final analysis, 
     however, nearly three million illegal aliens became citizens, 
     many of them through fraud. A large number of criminals and 
     even a handful of terrorists were among the beneficiaries of 
     that program.
       Twenty-one years later, it is estimated that at least 12 
     million, and perhaps as many as 20 million, illegal aliens 
     reside in the United States. Quite obviously, the promise of 
     enforcement never materialized. Now, some elected officials 
     are desperately trying to convince the American public that 
     they are finally serious about keeping that promise, and to 
     prove it, claim that they will add about 5,000 Border Patrol 
     agents and 370 miles of border fencing, as well as an 
     electronic employment verification system. While this 
     represents a slight improvement over the current untenable 
     situation, it will by no means stop, or even substantially 
     slow, the current rate of illegal immigration.
       As long as impoverished people can find work in this 
     country at wages that far exceed those available to them in 
     their native countries, millions of illegal aliens will 
     continue to cross our borders every year. The only way to 
     stop this influx is to eliminate the employment magnet by 
     means of a fool-proof employment verification system. While 
     the plan unveiled by the Senate takes a few small steps in 
     that direction, it would do very little to actually hold 
     employers accountable. In order to achieve that goal, every 
     prospective worker must be required to present a single type 
     of secure biometric employment-verification document whenever 
     applying for a job, and every prospective employer must be 
     required to electronically verify its authenticity. The 
     logical choice for this document is the Social Security card, 
     which every legal worker is already required to possess.
       Those who claim that it would be impossible to arrest and 
     deport millions of people ignore economic reality. If illegal 
     aliens can no longer find work in this country because 
     employers are afraid of the consequences for hiring them, 
     they will go home of their own accord.
       Unless Congress gets serious about worksite enforcement, it 
     will be impossible to secure our borders. The Border Patrol 
     is totally overwhelmed by the high volume of illegal traffic 
     that streams across our borders every day. Front-line agents 
     estimate that for every person they apprehend, two or three 
     slip by them. At the same time, Border Patrol agents need to 
     be provided with the necessary tools and support in order to 
     be able to intercept the criminals and terrorists who will 
     continue to attempt to breach our borders.
       T.J. Bonner, the president of the National Border Patrol 
     Council, issued the following statement today:
       ``Every person who has ever risked their life securing our 
     borders is extremely disheartened to see some of our elected 
     representatives once again waving the white flag on the 
     issues of illegal immigration and border security. Rewarding 
     criminal behavior has never induced anyone to abide by the 
     law, and there is no reason to believe that the outcome will 
     be any different in this case.''
       ``The passage of time has proven the 1986 amnesty to be a 
     mistake of colossal proportions. Instead of `wiping the slate 
     clean,' it spurred a dramatic increase in illegal 
     immigration. With the ever-present threat of terrorism, it is 
     critical to take the steps necessary to immediately and 
     completely secure our borders. Piecemeal measures will 
     prolong our vulnerability, and are an open invitation to 
     further terrorist attacks.''
       ``Rather than the meaningless `triggers' of additional 
     personnel and barriers outlined in the compromise, Americans 
     must insist that border security be measured in absolute 
     terms. As long as any people or contraband can enter our 
     country illegally, our borders are not secure. Sadly, the 
     plan that the Senate is proposing falls woefully short by 
     that yardstick, and needlessly jeopardizes the security of 
     this Nation.''

                              {time}  2145

  As we deliberate on this bill, it behooves us to remember that Border 
Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean are at this very moment languishing in 
solitary confinement in a Federal prison. These heroic border guards, 
one a 10-year veteran who was up to be Border Patrol Agent of the Year, 
another 5-year veteran, these people who were putting their lives on 
the line for us on a daily basis for years, interdicted a drug smuggler 
one day. This drug smuggler was transporting over $1 million worth of 
narcotics into our country. Yet when all was said and done, and the 
drug smuggler had escaped, but his drugs were interdicted and seized, 
this administration turned what may have been just administrative 
paperwork and literally things not reported right on paper, mistakes 
that may or may not have been made by the agents, and I think that 
after looking at this, there weren't mistakes, but if there were, it 
was procedural mistakes, policy issues there that were being dealt with 
on paper, they turned that into criminal activity, charging our Border 
Patrol agents with felonies, putting them away for 10 to 11 years, 
while siding with the drug smuggler, giving the drug smuggler immunity 
to testify against the Border Patrol agents as they turned what would 
be minor mistakes into felonies rather than trying to say, well, you 
made some mistakes in this, but we will give you immunity, however, so 
we can get the drug smuggler who is trying to smuggle drugs in to our 
children and into our communities.
  And then there are the cases of Gilmer Hernandez and Gary Brugman, 
two more law enforcement officers, jailed for stopping human 
traffickers. Again, the book was thrown at them, the maximum penalties 
sought, but no prosecution of illegal criminal aliens.
  This indefensible inclination of the administration, of President 
Bush's leadership of the administration, has demoralized our protectors 
at the border. According to the National Border Patrol Council, the 
union representing 12,000 frontline Border Patrol agents, we are losing 
12 percent of our Border Patrol agents a year right now. That amounts 
to 1,500 officers quitting their job every year. And we cannot replace 
the ones that we are losing. Why? Because this administration is not 
backing them up; because they feel that they are being abused by the 
people, by the government that they are serving. This is the 
administration that claims to be doing things in this legislation to 
help increase border security.
  This administration, this President, has a miserable record of 
providing border security. Our defenders have been undercut and abused 
by a personal protege of the President of the United States.
  This isn't as if President Bush doesn't know this. Attorney General 
Johnny Sutton, a young man who has tagged his career to the President 
for the last 20 years, he personally decided to prosecute these people, 
these law enforcement people, to the fullest extent of the law. And he 
has demonstrated that he will show no mercy for these Border Patrol 
agents and law enforcement officers like Ramos and Compean. The White 
House and Johnny Sutton will not permit these Border Patrol agents to 
even go out on bond until their appeal is heard. And it was Johnny 
Sutton, the U.S. attorney, and prosecutors that decided to prosecute 
them and let the drug smugglers go, decided to throw the book at them, 
decided to give gun charges against these people even though it is 
their job to carry a gun in order to protect us.
  Well, are we expected to believe that the legislation now pursued by 
the President, who is behind such nonsensical policies at the border, 
will help make our borders more secure, help stem the out-of-control 
flow of illegals into our country? How can we believe that that is what 
the purpose of this legislation is when at this time the administration 
is taking steps and has taken steps for the last 6 years to ensure that 
we would have a massive flow of illegals into our country? These people 
didn't just materialize into our country. They have come especially 
from across the southern border, but across our other borders as well, 
and there has been no attempt by this administration to get control of 
the people who are entering via airports from other parts of the world, 
people who then just overstay their visa.
  Well, this administration has not done this and has attacked our 
Border

[[Page H5615]]

Patrol agents instead. So much for the idea that this legislation, 
backed by Senator Kennedy and the President, will somehow strengthen 
the Border Patrol.
  The next trigger that we are told about is similarly fraudulent. The 
bill requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to have the 
resources to detain up to 27,000 illegal aliens. How about that? But 
the Intelligence Reform and Terrorist Prevention Act of 2004 already 
requires almost double that number, 43,000 beds. Again, the bill is 
simply taking credit for legislation and for mandates that have already 
been passed into law. They are doing this to confuse the American 
people because they are using this as a cover to legalize the status of 
15- to 20-million people who are here illegally, which will attract 
tens of millions more.
  And what this bill doesn't do and what it doesn't require may be just 
as significant as what it does. It does not require worksite 
enforcement. In an amazing loophole. It only requires the Department of 
Homeland Security to have the tools to conduct worksite enforcement, 
but nowhere in the bill does it mandate the Department of Homeland 
Security to actually conduct worksite enforcement. Since millions of 
illegal aliens come here looking for work, worksite enforcement is 
imperative if we are to discourage illegal immigration.
  If the Department of Homeland Security has the tools, but this so-
called comprehensive package does not require them to use the tools, 
then we are right back in the situation that we are now. The law isn't 
being enforced. If it was, then the situation would not have gotten out 
of hand, as it is today.
  One of the triggers in this legislation actually reduces border 
security. It cuts in half the border fence that Congress required to 
build on our southern borders. Now, remember we already passed the 
legislation requiring a fence. Everybody remembers that. Now those who 
ignored that mandate, the President and others who ignored that 
mandate, are telling us we must legalize the status of millions of 
illegals who are in this country in order for us to get what is already 
required by law. Now, what makes us think they are now going to obey 
the law, the agreement that they made?

  What this bill doesn't do, as I said, speaks as loud as it what it 
does. It does not require the U.S. to have a verifiable exit system so 
we know that when visiting foreigners come into the U.S., then we have 
no idea if they have left. Someone who is coming into the United States 
on a visa can overstay their visa, and we don't know if they have left. 
How can we seek out and deport someone who has violated their visa if 
we don't even know if that person is in the country or not? There has 
been no effort on the part of this administration to try to fix that 
problem, and this bill does not mandate that.
  Furthermore, it does not mandate checks on legal status in order for 
people who are here to get benefits. So those who oversee the limited 
resources that we have for our own people aren't expected to verify the 
legal status of those seeking to obtain services or benefits that are 
paid by the taxpayers. Our own people are going to suffer because of 
this. This is the comprehensive bill that is supposed to help our 
people; yet it leaves us vulnerable. Illegals are waved right through 
the system.
  Let me give you an example. What I have learned is that there are 
hundreds of thousands of illegals throughout this country who are in 
Federal housing. Why? Because one member of their family, perhaps a 
child that was born here once they came to this country illegally, one 
child becomes a U.S. citizen, and if they have one child as a U.S. 
citizen, the whole family then gets to have housing benefits from the 
Federal Government.
  Now, tell me this: The American people who are paying the bills, 
shouldn't they be getting this benefit rather than a family from 
overseas who has one child in this country who then supposedly becomes 
a citizen? What about our people who are barely making it, who can 
barely afford to pay their rent? They don't get the housing subsidy. 
What about our seniors who lose their income or they can't make it on 
what their retirement income is? They don't get the help. But illegals 
are being herded right through the system and given this help because 
they have a child that was born here.
  We shouldn't even permit an illegal who has a child here to think 
that that child is going to be a legal citizen. That itself should be 
taken care of in this legislation, and that isn't being taken care of. 
And by letting anyone who is born here become a U.S. citizen, we have 
again opened up all these benefits to illegals, millions of them, and 
we have also invited millions to come here to make sure their children 
become citizens by being born here.
  And, by the way, the triggers that we have heard about will unleash 
forces that they claim will make things better, but what about these 
triggers? How are these triggers going to be met? Well, the Secretary 
of Homeland Security, all he has to do to say that the triggers have 
been met is simply submit a written piece of paper that claims the 
triggers have been met. There is no actual reduction in illegal 
immigration required before there is a trigger which brings in all of 
these new immigrants and opens up the rest of the legislation. There is 
no decrease in, for example, those people who are involved in trying to 
get jobs through the match file system of Social Security. No, that 
would be measurable. Perhaps if we had a reduction in the number of 
illegal aliens in our prisons that could be noted, maybe that would be 
a good trigger, or anything else that can be objectively measured. No. 
That might mean that we are actually making progress, and that is the 
real reason why you have triggers. No, the triggers are there to 
provide cover.
  The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, all he has to 
do is simply sign a letter saying that the trigger elements are funded, 
in place, and in operation. So these supposed triggers, these supposed 
safeguards, they just have to be in place. They don't have to have any 
results, and at that point, that is when the rest of the safeguards 
don't make any difference at that point. That is when the meat of the 
bill goes into effect. The immigration spigot will be turned on by a 
simple piece of paper saying that something is in place, not 
necessarily working.
  And as we have seen, several of these triggers that I have already 
mentioned have already been put in place by prior legislation. The 
wall, building the wall, and expanding the Border Patrol agents, they 
have already been mandated. So one can expect the trigger letters that 
we are talking about that they are saying we are going to hold off 
until this situation is under control, they will be issued almost 
immediately, and that is predictable.
  And what happens when a letter certifying that we have gotten tough 
with border security is issued? Well, once that letter is issued, this 
legislation provides that a massive, and I mean a massive, guest worker 
program is then launched. You get that? Expanding the Border Patrol 
agents and the fence and these things, when they just say they are in 
place, all of a sudden the new guest worker program is brought out and 
launched into service.
  The deep pool of illegals currently here is going to be boosted by a 
flood of new illegals who know that if they get here, they will likely 
be given amnesty just like we did in 1986 and just like people are 
trying to do right now.

                              {time}  2200

  The lies of the past are almost as blatant as the fraud we are now 
confronting. The unspoken truth is Senator Kennedy wants extremely high 
levels of immigration. The truth is, President Bush wants extremely 
high levels of immigration. It hurts the well-being of the American 
people, but if it does, so be it. That's what Senator Kennedy and 
President Bush want.
  It isn't enough that we have a 15 percent unemployment rate among 
high school dropouts in this country, and millions of lower-income 
Americans who are seeing their wages buy less and less. It isn't enough 
that immigration has reduced the wages of low-skilled Americans by 
about $2,000 a year. Apparently, we need to push them into abject 
poverty by importing 400,000 guest workers a year to compete directly 
with Americans. Yes, 400,000, and again, now, details matter.
  While Y visas, which are designated for those who are in this new 
temporary guest workers program, while

[[Page H5616]]

they are supposed to be only temporary and only good for 2 years, a Y 
visa holder can eventually apply and get U.S. citizenship. They can 
also bring their spouse and children. They can stay for 2 years to 
work. Then they return home, and then they reapply for another 2-year 
visa. They can renew the Y visa this way up to three times.
  Now, who in their right mind actually believes that these people, 
once they've uprooted their families and they brought all this and met 
these other requirements, that once they are here, that they are just 
going to go back? When we have millions of people swarming into this 
country because we've already given amnesty to everybody else, why 
won't these people in the guest worker program just melt right into the 
crowds, just go right there?
  And, of course, they might go in and ask for green cards, which they 
can do, or they will just melt into the system, melt into our country. 
Why not?
  Well, does this sound like it is a temporary guest worker's program, 
that 400,000 people are going to be here temporarily? Well, who gets 
hurt by this nonsense?
  This bill allows employers to lay off American workers and replace 
them with Y visa holders as long as the Americans were fired 90 days 
before the petition of the foreign worker is filed. This is a huge 
subsidy to corporate America. It is both corporate welfare and an 
attack on the paycheck of hardworking Americans who are struggling to 
keep afloat.
  We are told we must have these guest workers because Americans won't 
take the jobs, like in agriculture. Well, there are Americans who will 
pick fruit and vegetables. Don't tell me there aren't Americans who 
will go out and do this kind of labor in the fields. In fact, I've 
visited compounds where you have thousands of Americans, men, healthy 
men, between 18 and 40 years old, who would love to get out and earn 
some money. These are men in prison. These are prisoners who, after 
serving their time, 5 to 10 years, they get out with no work ethic, no 
money, $50 in their pocket and a new suit; and people are surprised 
when they come back to prison after committing more crime.
  Well, let's put these people to work, rather than wasting all of 
their time, not developing any work ethic, let's let them earn $10,000, 
$20,000, so when they get out, they will have some money in their hand 
and they will have a work ethic. And half of the money can be used to 
pay for their own incarceration.
  When somebody like me says this in Washington, D.C., they make fun of 
that. They make fun of me for suggesting that prisoners should pick the 
fruits and vegetables. The people making fun of me, are they watching 
out for the American people? These prisoners, they will be given a 
chance if we let them earn a living, come out of prison with $10,000 or 
$20,000 that they've earned, and they've paid some restitution in the 
meantime. So there are people who will do these jobs, even the 
agricultural jobs.
  We are told we must have guest workers because Americans won't take 
the jobs, like agriculture and other jobs, because the guest worker 
program isn't just agricultural work. Look real close, Mr. and Mrs. 
America. This guest worker program includes a lot of other jobs rather 
than just agricultural work, cleaning hotel rooms and construction 
workers, for example.
  Now, is it really true that Americans won't do that, or Americans 
won't be nannies for other people's children? No. Americans will do 
those jobs as long as they get pay commensurate for their work. No, 
they won't work like slave labor, like illegals who are pouring over 
the borders into our country to fill these jobs.
  There are millions of American women who would love to drop off their 
children at school at 9 o'clock in the morning and go to work at these 
various hotels, cleaning the rooms and changing the sheets and then get 
off by 3 o'clock in order to pick up their kids at school. Yes, 
millions of American women would like to do that, but they're not going 
to work for a pittance, they're not going to work as slaves. They want 
benefits if they're going to work for the job. But with illegals 
pouring across the border, these millions of American women are left 
out.
  There are millions of American women who would love to be a nanny for 
some rich people who would like to have a nanny for their children, or 
even some people who aren't so rich who would like to have some help 
with their children, but they're not going to work for a pittance. And 
all these rich people who have nannies from overseas and are paying 
them half as much as they would have to pay an American woman to help 
them, who is being helped? The rich lady or the rich woman who has the 
children are being helped.
  Yes, those rich people are being helped. Maybe the immigrant, the 
illegal immigrant, probably woman, who is helping out as a nanny, she 
has helped a little bit. Who is the big loser are the American women, 
who could be earning a decent living to help their families by serving 
as nannies, because they are women who are mothers and they know about 
taking care of children. We have frozen them out of the market.
  We are hurting the American family. We are making sure that families 
don't have the extra money, and that these hotel chains can pay people 
a pittance.
  The guest worker program starts at 400,000, but it can be increased. 
This bill allows for adjustments every 6 months based on market 
fluctuation. Is there a doubt in anyone's mind that simply allowing the 
number of guest workers to go up and down will not result in the number 
of workers going up and up and up? H1B visas and Y visa holders will be 
taking the jobs that Americans are willing to do, but they will be 
driving down wages.
  In Orange County, I went to a function a few years ago and a fellow 
grabbed me by the arm and he said, Congressman, I am here to thank you. 
He had a newspaper clipping when we were debating H1B visas here on the 
floor of the House. He said Congressman, I read your quote. You said if 
we bring in these hundreds of thousands of people on H1B visas from 
India and Pakistan to work at our high-tech jobs, we are going to do 
nothing but depress the wages of the people in the electronics 
industry.
  He said, I was laid off, and do you know what happened? I went back 
to get my old job back. They paid me $80,000, and now they were 
offering the same job to me for $50,000. And they looked at me and 
said, if you don't take this, we can get somebody with an H1B visa to 
take it, some Indian or Pakistani, so you'd better take it.

  And he said, I did. He said, you know the difference, Congressman, 
between earning $50,000 and $80,000 is? I said, what is it? He said, 
you never dream of owning your own home if you make $50,000 a year.
  We are destroying the dreams of the American people in order to what? 
To bring down wages so that our business elite can prosper, and yes, so 
that we can bring millions of illegals into this country, millions of 
immigrants into this country, which the liberal left of the political 
spectrum thinks that they are going to use these people as pawns in 
their own political game. They are being exploited by the business 
community and exploited by the liberal left who control the Democratic 
party. This is obscene.
  Who loses? Yeah, the immigrants are kind of losers, even though 
they're a little bit better off. The American people are the losers.
  What happens to particular Americans isn't the worst of it. Not only 
do we greatly expand our guest worker program, we are actually 
increasing chain migration, even though they are telling us this bill 
will take care of that. Chain migration allows an immigrant to bring 
his spouse and children and the sisters and brothers and in-laws, 
grandparents, aunts and uncles.
  One of the reasons the wait to migrate to America is so long for many 
people overseas is that the open slots that could become open to 
immigrate here legally are going to people who are bringing their 
relatives over, people who may immediately be on the dole, people who 
can't even support themselves, but they are family members.
  The Senate claims this bill will move away from that, that it will 
point the system to a merit system, to those who have skills that 
America needs and will be able to come into the country before the 
relatives of those people are already here. Sounds pretty good in 
theory, doesn't it? Once again, there are

[[Page H5617]]

so many loopholes in this bill that the reality of this legislation is 
just the opposite for which it portends.
  The bill, as written, for most of the next decade will dramatically 
increase chain migration. Well, how is that? How? Right now, chain 
migration is limited to 112,000 per year. This bill increases that. Get 
this: Chain migration is 112,000 a year; this bill would increase that 
number to 440,000 per year until the current backlog of applications is 
filled.
  That backlog will take 8 years, get that, 8 years to fix, 8 years 
before the point system we are being told about will come into play, 8 
years at a fourfold increase in chain migration during those 8 years.
  Does anyone here really think that 8 years from now we will implement 
a merit system for chain migration? By then we will have 50 to 100 
million new illegal immigrants here who have swarmed into our country, 
and we will be in the midst of chaos and confusion.
  One might reasonably hope, after granting amnesty, establishing a new 
guest worker program, increasing chain migration and requiring trigger 
mechanisms that already are in place and aren't needed, that this bill 
might at least crack down on illegal immigrant criminals. Well, don't 
hold your breath. This bill imposes significant obstacles to removing 
dangerous alien gang members from our country.
  This bill also narrowly defines criminal gangs so that many small 
gangs will be excluded from the bill. Further, the government must 
prove bad intent on the part of the alien gang member in order to 
remove the alien gang member. All a gang member has to do is sign a 
piece of paper saying he has renounced his gang affiliation and he can 
then get a Z visa. He is then getting a visa that will permit him legal 
status here, even though he's illegal and part of a criminal gang. Of 
course a gang member would never lie to us about that, would he? I 
guess not. Why are we putting out this welcome mat for criminals? This 
is madness.
  Further, the bill weakens the law involving passport fraud and 
misuse. It actually reduces the punishment for illegal reentry by 
criminals into this country. The so-called comprehensive bill weakens 
restrictions that are already in place.
  And shockingly enough, this bill does not make engaging in a 
terrorist activity proof that an immigrant is not of good moral 
character, the good moral character, of course, being a requirement to 
get a visa.
  And the final insult, let's look at the highly touted electronic 
employment eligibility verification, the system allowing employers to 
make sure that the employees they hire are eligible for employment. 
It's a fraud. Why? First, because the bill permits the entire system to 
be changed by the Department of Homeland Security Secretary and the 
Social Security Administrator.
  Second, while an illegal alien is appealing a finding of 
noneligibility for employment, so if he is found not to be eligible for 
employment, while he is appealing that, he can appeal it 
administratively, and then he can appeal it in the courts. The illegal 
can't be fired while he is appealing that decision. That could go on 
for years, and so the mechanism is irrelevant.
  In real-life scenarios, this bill would make that mechanism to check 
irrelevant. Forget whatever requirements are in the bill. There are 
over 40 pages of such requirements, such as, in section 302 of the 
bill, the Department of Homeland Security Secretary and the Social 
Security Administrator are given authority to change any requirement. 
Any of the supposed tough mandates can be administratively done and 
deleted simply by publishing these changes in the Federal Register.
  What is the purpose of defining a system for page after page in this 
legislation and then saying, by the way, if you don't like it or get 
too much heat from greedy employers or a confused press, don't worry, 
you can change it? It can be changed easily without having to go back 
to the Congress.

                              {time}  2215

  This is not laying the foundation for meeting serious challenges. 
This is creating a phony facade to make people think that something 
else is happening.
  The final slap? This bill legalizes in-state tuition for illegal 
aliens. If your child goes 100 miles to the next State, he or she must 
pay for out-of-state tuition. But an illegal alien who is smuggled 
2,000 miles by their parents into this country can go to school cheaply 
and on your tax dollar.
  This much vaunted compromise that we are talking about, this 
comprehensive bill, is in reality an amnesty for everyone; a new guest 
worker program so your employer can throw you out of work. It vastly 
expands chain migration. It guts enforcement provisions and makes it 
easier for illegal alien criminals to stay. If this is a compromise, I 
shudder to think what the other bill will look like. It would be more 
honest for the Senate to draft up a bill declaring war on the American 
people.
  Robert Rector from the Heritage Foundation estimates the cost for the 
out-of-control flow of illegal immigration will be over $2.5 trillion. 
That is trillion dollars with a ``T.'' Baby-boomers retiring and the 
looming crisis in Medicare and Social Security are upon us. What 
rational person thinks that we can take on another $2.5 trillion in 
obligations and not see the utter bankruptcy of our country? And what 
rational person thinks we can absorb tens of millions of new illegals 
who will be attracted to America once we legalize the status of this 
bunch who are here now?
  This goes deeper than economics. Why are we officially endorsing the 
existence of a permanent class of illegal residents, because when those 
50 to 100 million people get here, it will be over. A group of people 
who are not citizens, who have neither obligation nor benefits of being 
citizens, will be in our country forever. It will change the nature of 
the United States. It is changing the nature of the United States.
  I strongly support legal immigration. Legal immigrants are the 
bulwark of our economy and our society. They are the most patriotic of 
Americans. But they have come here to be Americans. They have come 
here, legal immigrants have come here, to make sure they are healthy, 
yes, and they can work and they can actually take care of themselves, 
rather than be wards of the state. They have met these obligations. 
They want to speak English.
  But they have come here with the premise, everyone comes here who 
comes to our country, they know, these legal immigrants, that they have 
to give up their allegiance to their old country and to truly become 
Americans, and they want to become Americans. I am proud of those legal 
immigrants who support me in my district. They deserve the rights and 
their families deserve the rights of every American, and no one should 
ever interpret this battle against illegal immigration with any attack 
on those wonderful American citizens who are here by choice and who 
have come here legally and come here through the process.
  We have a huge group of illegal immigrants here now, and a growing 
number, who refuse to renounce their allegiance to their old country 
and to their old ways, but loudly insist on being granted the economic 
benefits of living in this country. This is a prescription for 
disaster. For disaster.
  Legal immigration is a controlled process. We take in more than all 
the rest of the world combined. We have more legal immigrants into our 
country than all the other countries of the world combined, and we can 
be proud of that.
  But it hasn't been enough for those who rake in higher profits when 
wages go down or for those in the liberal left who want to 
fundamentally change America and believe a mass of new immigrants will 
help them do it.
  America is a wondrous dream. We are letting an elite clique of 
capitalists and leftists, as unholy an alliance as that is, to turn 
this dream into a nightmare. The American people need to step forward 
with a righteous rage. They are being betrayed. President Bush and 
Senator Kennedy have an agenda that will destroy America's middle-
class. Those who sign onto this legislation are not, not, representing 
the interests of the American people.
  If we do not speak up, the Americans, the patriots, both legal 
immigrants and people who are born here, if we do not step up there 
will be another 50 to 100 million people here from abroad and they will 
live here a decade from now and it will be a different country. We will 
have lost our country.
  Yet those supporting this invasion of America posture themselves as 
morally

[[Page H5618]]

superior. Cities declare ``sanctuary'' for illegals, these illegals who 
have broken our laws. These cities who are declaring sanctuary are 
never asked who is being hurt. They think they are helping people.
  It is not just the American people being hurt, it is those people 
waiting in line overseas. Why should the person who has come here 
illegally, the people who have come here illegally, get the benefits? 
Why should the people who run the sanctuaries be on the side of those 
people who cheated and cut in line in front of all of those hundreds of 
millions of people waiting overseas?
  The sanctuary cities are treating the good people who would immigrate 
here legally and are waiting to do so as a bunch of saps. Any time that 
we reward illegal conduct and these people who have come here illegally 
and we say we are reaching out to them, we are going to try to help 
them, what you are really doing is hurting the people overseas. You are 
hurting someone else who is a decent, hard-working person who would 
come here. So anybody who offers sanctuary and is reaching out to 
illegals is doing nothing but hurting other people overseas. Of course, 
they are hurting the American people. It is not enough to tell them 
that. They are also hurting these poor people overseas. These sanctuary 
cities are contributing to the breakdown of our society.
  This ``holier-than-thou'' attitude is not humanitarian. It is phony. 
Those posers are rarely willing to sacrifice their own resources. They 
want to spend taxpayer dollars to take care of their humanitarian 
instincts. The Catholic Church, for example, demands that illegals be 
given healthcare and education benefits. Let the Catholic Church, if 
they are serious, pay the bill for the illegals. They can do it. They 
can provide schools and healthcare. There are a lot of Catholic 
properties that could be sold to pay for their healthcare. No, they 
want the American people, other people, to pay for it. The taxpayers. 
That is not humanitarianism. That is not Christian charity.
  Then what happens when the next wave gets here, 50 to 100 million 
illegals? First and foremost, the American people should be loyal to 
each other. We must care for each other. This is not hate mongering. 
This is not being against people. Americans of every race, every 
religion, every ethnic background, we need to be compassionate to each 
other and each other's families. We must not drain the limited 
resources that we have for the Americans in order to give it to the 
other people who have come here illegally, because we must first care 
for our own people.
  That is not hate. That is the right kind of love you have in your 
heart for your family and your neighbors. This is not humanitarianism, 
when we give this away to others and encourage millions more to come 
here. It will cause the collapse of our system and all of us will be 
worse off.
  The immigration legislation being foisted upon us will create a 
different America with a permanent alien underclass, people who may or 
may not share our Democratic values and may or may not be loyal to 
America's ideals. It is time for patriots to act, to stand up and be 
heard. Be angry. Call on elected officials to be held accountable.
  This supposed comprehensive immigration bill must be defeated, and I 
would call on my fellow Members of Congress and the American people to 
join in this fight. We need every patriot to be activated now to save 
America.

                          ____________________