[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 23, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H5713-H5717]
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. Bilbray) is 
recognized for 55 minutes.
  Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the chance to speak before the 
House today, and it's about an issue that many Americans all over this 
Nation are discussing, are listening about, and, frankly, are very 
concerned, if not outraged, and that is the proposal before the Senate 
this week that would actually not only allow, but demand amnesty for 
12- to 20 million illegal immigrants in this country while millions 
wait patiently outside to immigrate into our country legally.
  Tonight I am honored to be able to have colleagues here to be able to 
address the issues and actually talk about what's going on in their 
districts and address the issue that where does America go from here? 
How do we stop the Senate from making this terrible mistake? How do we 
turn the President and the Senate away from the path of amnesty that 
was followed in 1986, which caused the greatest influx of illegal 
immigration? How do we get the elite here in Washington to wake up to 
the fact that you do not stop illegal immigration by announcing to the 
world that you are now going to reward up to 20 million people who are 
illegally in the country?
  I have the privilege to recognize the gentleman from Texas at this 
time.
  Mr. CARTER. I thank my friend from California for recognizing me on 
this very important issue to the people of the United States of 
America, the opening of our borders and the pouring in of somewhere 
between 12- to 20 million people who have broken the laws of the United 
States of America.
  I want to talk a little tonight about what's going on in my district 
and what's going on in Texas and what's going on in the country. But, 
first, I would like to respond to some talk that took place in the last 
hour, just for a second.
  When we talk about gasoline prices, you know, all this talk about 
gasoline prices, I saw in this last hour, they kept trying to say all 
this was President Bush's fault. The Democrats are in charge of 
Congress. They have told us tomorrow that they are an equal branch of 
government, and that they are, in fact, in charge of this Nation at 
this time, and they are responsible for these gas prices. It's time to 
be responsible to go along with your rights. The Democrat majority has 
something they can do about gas prices, but, of course, let's look at 
what they have done.
  The first thing they did in Six for '06 was take away the incentives 
to encourage domestic drilling and, in fact, place a tax on gas 
production, and, thus, decrease the availability of American petroleum 
to replace our burden on foreign petroleum. They proposed a cut-and-run 
theory on dealing with the issue in Iraq, which, if we cut and run, 
would turn over the second largest oil reserve in the world to Islamic 
terrorists.
  They propose now, out of the Senate, to open our borders to the 
illegal aliens that are already here and to put together a policy which 
would encourage more illegal aliens to come across our borders and 
consume 20 million people's worth of oil and gas in this country. These 
are the things that they are criticizing the Republican minority for 
causing the gas prices to go up?
  But that all just gives you a picture of where we are going right 
now. Now the Democrats have come out of the Senate, remember, they are 
the majority in the Senate, too, and they have come out with a proposal 
to, they say, solve our immigration crisis.
  I want to say, and I have told this to the White House, and I have 
told it to my colleagues here in Congress, and I tell them again, the 
American people want a solution to the illegal immigrant problem. 
That's where they see and know the crisis is, and they are saying you 
have the tools and have had the tools to do something about this 
problem for a long time, over 20 years, and nothing has been done. The 
American people see this as a crisis, and they are right.
  You know, for 20 years I sat on the bench as a district judge in 
Texas. When people broke the law, the people of our country, in 
Williamson County, Texas, they wanted the laws enforced. They called 
upon our sheriffs and our law enforcement officers to enforce the law, 
and they called upon our courts and our juries to enforce the law. I am 
proud to say we did.
  This issue is a law enforcement issue as much as any other issue. 
There are between 12- and 20 million people in this country, we are 
told by some, came here to start a new life. You don't start a new life 
by breaking the law, and the American people know that. The American 
people want something done about it.
  The American people want us to defend our sovereign borders of the 
United States and to tell these people, you cannot break the laws of 
the United States and then expect to come into this country and get the 
benefits and the privileges of being a United States citizen. They are 
unhappy.
  When the Senate bill was announced, I believe it was last Friday, 
before the end of the day and into Monday, we had over 1,000 phone 
calls, an estimation. I know we had over 400, I think it was, right 
here in D.C. Then our other two offices were overwhelmed with phone 
calls, all from citizens who we, you know, who are people of our 
community, who live and work in our community, and every one of them 
said this is an outrage. Do not support this concept of amnesty for 
people who have broken our laws. They have to be responsible for their 
own behavior. We raise our children to be responsible for their 
behavior, and we expect them to be.
  We tell the American citizens, we set up a series of laws, we call it 
the rule of law. It is a basic principle of the Republic of the United 
States that the people respect the rule of law. Without it, democracy 
and the Republic cannot function. Yet we have proposed a bill that will 
waive the rule of law for up to 20 million or possibly more than 20 
million people that are in this country illegally.
  That's just not right, that's just basically old country boy not 
right to the folks back in Texas and to the folks, I believe, across 
this Nation. They get up

[[Page H5714]]

every day, and they abide by the laws of the United States. They pay 
their taxes. They do the right thing for the right reasons because 
that's what Americans do. That's the kind of people we want in the 
country, people who abide by the law.
  To just say that it's a good way to start a new part of our 
population by letting them break the law to become part of our Nation, 
it just flies in the face of everything America thinks is right. We 
hear the argument, we are sure they are good people. I am sure they are 
good people. They are hard-working people. I have lived in Texas all my 
life, and I have seen this phenomena all my life.
  These are hard-working people. I have visited with many of them in my 
limited Spanish and find them to be people looking for a job and who 
are hard-working. But it doesn't change the fact that they are starting 
their life in the United States of America illegally. This is wrong, 
and the American people know it's wrong.
  Mr. BILBRAY. One of the things, I think, people misunderstand when 
they talk about the amnesty, that people that are here illegally 
working in the United States are not just violating immigration law. A 
lot of people don't realize that about 73 to 75 percent of everyone who 
is here illegally is working illegally because they acquired false 
documents, stole somebody's ID or identification to work, which is a 
felony.
  The Kennedy proposal in the Senate not only gives amnesty, an 
exemption from prosecution, for being illegally in the country, but 
exempts them and gives amnesty for the felony they committed when they 
used somebody else's identification or used false documentation to 
acquire a job.
  So we have got to remember that we are not only giving amnesty for 
immigration, we are now proposing that we will pick a certain 
population to be exempt from a felony violation and not only forgiven 
for that violation, but to be given a special program, the Z visa, that 
only those who have broken the law qualify for. Those individuals who 
have been waiting patiently to immigrate into this country illegally 
are not allowed, under this proposal, to have the Z option, to go for 
the Z visa.
  That is a concept of rewarding illegal behavior, a little felony 
illegal behavior, when you are telling those who have not broken our 
laws that you are not going to offer them the same thing.

                              {time}  2315

  Mr. CARTER. Absolutely. And you hit on a very good point, and I thank 
the gentleman for yielding. The point that you hit on is that there are 
people that are trying to do it the right way, that have been waiting 
patiently to do this the right way in countries around this world; not 
just from our neighbors to the south, but all over this world that have 
waited patiently to get the opportunity to come to the United States, 
following the rules in the effort to go to work, enjoying the freedom 
of the world we live in, and ultimately by doing the right thing, the 
right way, hopefully become American citizens.
  Mr. BILBRAY. Reclaiming my time. I am chairman of the Immigration 
Caucus, and I am proud that my mother is an immigrant, a legal 
immigrant. She came here, played by the rules; and, as she reminds me 
again and again, it is an insult to her and everyone else who played by 
the rules to gain legal status in this country to watch anybody, let 
alone the Senate of the United States, announce to the world that they 
are going to give up to 20 million people the cherished ability to live 
permanently in the United States and to give them a vehicle towards 
citizenship.
  At this time, I have the honor to yield to the gentlewoman from North 
Carolina.
  Ms. FOXX. I thank the gentleman for taking on the task of serving as 
chairman of our Immigration Caucus. I appreciate the leadership that 
you have given to it and I appreciate the comments that you and 
Congressman Carter have made tonight. I have several points I would 
like to make.
  The members of our caucus know that I am very keen on the use of 
language, and that language makes a big difference. And we keep hearing 
over and over from the supporters of this Senate bill that this is not 
amnesty. But I think it is important that we define the word 
``amnesty,'' so I looked it up under dictionary.com unabridged.
  The first definition: a general pardon for offenses, especially 
political offenses against the government, often granted before any 
trial or conviction.
  And then I like this one, another one from Online Etymology 
Dictionary: pardon of past offenses, intentional overlooking.
  I think that is what we are talking about here. And, again, I think 
it is important that we define what we are talking about. That is 
exactly what the Senate is proposing.
  Now, the other thing that I want to say is that I am really concerned 
with the way this bill has come out. It is being debated in pieces. It 
was written in secret, sprung on us late in the day, and it didn't go 
through a committee structure as most of our bills do. It was brought 
straight to the floor of the Senate. The leadership of the Senate, the 
Democratic leadership of the Senate wanted to cram it through before 
the Memorial Day holiday.
  Those kinds of actions are not the actions of people who are proud of 
what they are doing. If they were proud of this bill, they would have 
brought that bill to a committee, they would have debated it, they 
would have heard the arguments pro and con, and then they would have 
come up with something that was discussed openly with lots and lots of 
people. That is the way, as Congressman Carter says, our Republic 
operates. We don't operate in secret. We don't do things like that. We 
don't cram bills through in a hurry, especially when they are so 
controversial.
  You know, you mentioned, we want to talk a little bit about our 
districts. I live in, I think, the most beautiful area of the world, 
the Fifth District of North Carolina. I am very blessed to live there. 
And I live among, I think, the brightest, hardest-working people in the 
world. And they are very intelligent, very conscientious, very 
patriotic people. They are upset about this proposal. They don't like 
it.
  Since I came to Congress a little over 2 years ago, I have been 
telling everybody who would listen, this is the biggest issue in my 
district, it is the biggest issue in most districts. And why? Because 
the American people, and again particularly the people in my district, 
have played by the rules and they understand the importance of the rule 
of law.
  I tell folks over and over what makes this country so special are 
three things: the rule of law, our moral underpinnings, and our 
capitalistic way of life. But you can't have moral underpinnings and 
you can't have the capitalistic system if you don't have the rule of 
law.
  Now, we can do something about illegal aliens who are here in our 
country. People say, oh, we can't do anything about them. We surely 
can. What we can do is start enforcing our laws. We have not been doing 
that. Both Democratic and Republican administrations are guilty of it. 
I can't forgive our Republican administrations because they are guilty 
of it, too. But we can close down our borders and we can enforce the 
laws as they are now. And I think that what we have to do is we have to 
look at this issue of illegal immigration in a very careful, law-
respecting way. The solution doesn't lie in wholesale amnesty.
  And the President has said that this bill will treat people with 
respect. Well, I respect the President, but I have to strongly disagree 
with him. Because from what I have seen so far, this bill fails to 
respect the millions of people who have worked within the system and 
have immigrated to our country legally. And those people who want to 
come to this country legally, they are doing it the right way. These 
people have done it the wrong way. We are not going to reward, we 
cannot reward illegal behavior by uttering platitudes about respect and 
fairness. Our first principle on immigration reform has to be upholding 
American laws. If we do not do that, then our system will be 
fundamentally flawed.
  The bill that the Senate is proposing is going to legalize these 
people immediately. They talk about triggers being in there, but the 
triggers don't really go into effect. And the triggers are nothing but 
laws that we have already had in place for a long, long time. And if 
this bill passes and is signed by the President, we will be, I think, 
doing severe damage to our country, not just in the short run, because 
I think that it

[[Page H5715]]

will be both in the short run and in the long run. There will be a huge 
battle ahead of us if we pass this bill, because we are going to be 
facing more and more illegal immigration.
  In addition, as I said before, the people of the Fifth District are 
very bright people. They know amnesty when they see it, and they know 
that if this bill or something even vaguely like it passes, it is going 
to dilute the meaning of citizenship in this country, and that is the 
last thing we want to do. We are the last best hope for freedom in this 
world; and if we don't enforce our laws and help people come here 
legally who want to come here, and deal with things on a case-by-case 
basis, we are simply going to destroy what it is that is wonderful 
about our country.
  Congressman Bilbray mentioned that his mother was an immigrant but 
came here legally. My father's parents came from Italy in the early 
1900s; my mother's ancestors came much earlier than that from Scotland. 
But the Ellis Island model was a very, very good model. People had to 
come here, prove that they were healthy, prove that they either had a 
job or had a sponsor for them to be here. That worked wonderfully well 
in this country for a long, long time. And think that we have to have 
something akin to the Ellis Island experience again in this country, 
where we know that the people who are coming here are coming here 
because we need them here or they provide a benefit and they can be 
independent. They will not have to have public assistance.

  Mr. BILBRAY. If I may reclaim my time. I think the one thing we don't 
talk about enough in this country is that there is this perception that 
we don't allow very much legal immigration inside.
  The United States today, Mr. Speaker, accepts more legal immigration 
than all the rest of the world combined. We are accepting more legal 
immigration today than at any other time in the history of our 
Republic. This country is one of the most gracious and welcoming 
countries, the most welcoming country in the history of the world. And 
so we have nothing to apologize for when it comes to accommodating, 
except for the fact that we made a terrible mistake in 1986.
  When you were talking about the definition of amnesty, it actually 
comes from the Latin word for amnesia. And maybe what the Senate is 
forgetting in having this amnesia is what happened the last time they 
proposed this type of amnesty.
  Einstein said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over 
again and expecting a different result. Let's just look at what 
happened when Mr. Kennedy, who promised in 1986 this would be the last 
amnesty that America would ever have, clearly stated, ``It will never 
happen again.''
  Twenty years ago, we tried this experiment of rewarding illegal 
immigration. We were promised that it was only going to be 1 million 
illegals that were given amnesty. It turned out it was 3 million. Now, 
20 years later, rather than having 3 illegals in our country we have 12 
to 20. Mr. Kennedy, did your amnesty really eliminate illegal 
immigration?
  I will tell you as somebody who was down at the border, I was 
actually the chairman of San Diego County on the border, a county of 3 
million. The greatest influx of illegal immigration that we have seen 
in this country happened immediately after the last amnesty. And anyone 
who says that we are going to stop illegal immigration by announcing to 
the world that 20 million illegals got rewarded is either ignorant of 
the facts or willing to fabricate verifications that are absolutely 
outrageous. And you cannot stop illegal immigration when you announce 
that you are going to reward it, and the proof is in history. Last 
time, Mr. Kennedy, you did this, we had the largest illegal immigration 
population.
  And, frankly, I think there are people who are proposing this amnesty 
who know what it will do but will not come clean with the American 
people. And I think the one thing we saw this week, and I think all of 
us will agree, is that the elite in Washington think that the American 
people don't understand this issue. Well, the American people 
understood it. Within 45 minutes after Mr. Kennedy and the Senators 
were doing their press conference, the American people started making 
phone calls, they started e-mailing, they started faxing. They sent a 
signal to the Senators and they sent a signal to us that, Washington, 
we are watching and we are not going to fall for it this time. We are 
going to stand up and defend our grandchildren's birthright, and we are 
going to start demanding that you start doing the right thing.
  And I think the guilt goes both ways. The public is fed up with the 
Republicans and Democrats, because they have not seen an administration 
enforce the law. We have to gain credibility that we really can be 
trusted with the security of this country by being willing to do the 
right thing and enforce the immigration laws here. And not until we do 
that, no matter who is President, no matter what party is in power, 
will the American public trust us to move on with a lot of other 
agendas.
  Ms. FOXX. I just want to ask one question. I think that you have 
touched on a very important point again, and that is that we here in 
the House of Representatives are the Representatives of the people. We 
are the people's House. And I think the Senate is completely out of 
touch with what the sentiment is in this country.
  And I agree with you, the American people get it. The people of my 
district get it, and they are very, very bright. I think that we need 
to be listening to those people. And the House generally does listen to 
the people.
  And I hope that they are going to send a very, very strong message to 
the Senators about how they feel about this, and turn this around in 
the Senate, because we need this bill to be killed in the Senate and 
not even come to the House of Representatives to be debated. But I know 
that we as Republicans are going to have some alternatives that we will 
be presenting in this House, and I hope that the majority party, which 
has made so many promises, none of which it has kept in this session of 
the Congress, will listen to the people and say, we are going to take 
up legislation that will do what needs to be done, which is protect our 
borders and provide for national security and give the people a true 
immigration reform.

                              {time}  2330

  Mr. BILBRAY. I appreciate that. And actually, I guess we've got to 
remember that 11 months ago, I was standing exactly where you are and 
gave my acceptance speech for being sworn into Congress. And there were 
18 candidates for the 50th District in California. And the people of 
San Diego wanted to send a clear message to Washington that this 
illegal immigration issue is something that people need to address. And 
I think today you're hearing not just one district scream loud and 
clear that they want the illegal immigration issue addressed, but 
you're seeing people calling from all the districts, calling their 
Representatives and demanding that we finally do the right thing and 
not sell out on this issue.
  I'd like yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. CARTER. And I thank the gentleman for yielding. And you mentioned 
that your wife came here as an immigrant, and my wife came here as an 
immigrant also. And I'd like to share just a little bit of our story 
because I think it gives us a good comparison to what's being proposed 
in the Senate today and what we used to operate under in this country 
when you do it right.
  I am very blessed to the fact that my wife, Erica, fell in love with 
a law student from the University of Texas law school back in 1965. And 
I happen to humbly be that law student. And we married in 1968.
  And to be very honest, I really never even thought about the fact 
that my wife might have to actually apply to come to the United States 
after she had married a red-blooded American. You know, I thought that 
was just the ticket, but quickly found out that wasn't the ticket.
  We had to go down to the embassy, and we had to fill out all these 
papers. We had to have someone pledge $5,000 to ensure that she would 
have a sponsor who would take care of her when, if she was allowed to 
enter the United States and ultimately get a green card to be a 
resident alien of the United States.
  She had to take a physical, and as she took a physical with several 
other women her age, one of whom looked very much like her, when they 
got the lung exams back, this is a personal

[[Page H5716]]

thing that happened to us, they came to us and said, I'm sorry, but our 
exam of your wife's X-Rays shows that she's got tuberculosis, and she 
may not enter the United States, which we were newly married. We hadn't 
even been married a month at that time, maybe a month and a half. We 
were crushed. And then the doctor came back and said, I'm sorry, we got 
the wrong X-Ray. This is something we will never forget. And 
unfortunately, that X-Ray was for another redheaded girl who was in the 
same physical group that had their physicals, and so I felt very sorry 
for her, who was also marrying an American, but she was not going to be 
allowed to come to the United States because she had tuberculosis. But, 
praise God, it wasn't my wife.
  So we paid our fee. We took our physical examination, we had the 
background check which is required for all people coming into the 
United States, and then when we arrived in the United States, in those 
days every year you had to register with the Federal Government. Every 
person who was not a citizen but had a green card, between January 1 
and January 31 you went down to the post office and you filled out a 
form every year and told the United States Government where you were if 
you were a green card holder in the United States. We don't have that 
provision anymore. It went away.
  We did all those things. My wife learned American history. She 
learned the English language. In the meantime, she had three American 
children, but she still met all the qualifications that you had to have 
to get to be an American citizen. And in 1976, I was very proud to see 
my wife raise her right hand and take the oath of allegiance to the 
United States of America and become a United States citizen. And I am 
proud of her for many, many reasons, and that's one of them today.
  That's how you do it to do it right, to do it legally, and to become 
part of what this mysterious wonder that is America. It's not to sneak 
across a border in the middle of the night and hide out as a lawbreaker 
to make money. That's not the way you're supposed to come into the 
United States of America.
  And as you pointed out, we have a procedure where people legally come 
here by the millions, and we welcome them.
  And let me point one more thing out, and then I'm going to yield 
back, and that is here about a month ago we had about, I don't know, 
looked like several hundred people walking around this building with T 
shirts on that said ``Legalize the Irish.'' And I stopped some of them 
in the elevator and said, what in the world does that mean? And they 
said, well, we're all here illegally, and we want to be made legal.
  This is not an Hispanic issue. This is an issue for the people who 
came to Disneyland and never went home. This is the people from all 
over the world that have overstayed their visas and are staying in the 
United States, as well as those who come across our borders. They are 
just as big starting life as a lawbreaker as people who swam the Rio 
Grande or walked across the desert of Arizona or California or New 
Mexico in the middle of the night. This is something that is not the 
right way to become an American citizen, and we can do better than 
this, and we must. And I yield back.
  Mr. BILBRAY. Reclaiming my time. I mean, the American people are such 
a patient, humanitarian people that maybe sometimes we forget there's a 
fine line between being the nice guy and being a patsy. My mother 
immigrated from Australia. She got her citizenship, and she's very 
proud that she was one of the first Australian war brides to get her 
citizenship, April 1946. And when she sees that there are not only 
illegals in the country saying they want to be legalized, they want 
amnesty, what shocks her is that the United States allows people to be 
here illegally and demand, demand that America change its laws to 
accommodate them because they do not want to play by the rules.
  What other Nation on Earth would allow people to be illegally in 
their country and then demand that their duly elected representative 
government modify its statutes to accommodate them because they do not 
want to be bothered by following the laws of their host country?
  What kind of relationship do we expect to come from a situation to 
where we accommodate people who come to this country illegally, while 
we tell those patiently that want to come here legally, sorry, you get 
put on the back of the list?
  And, you know, I'm very impressed. Learning a new language is always 
a big challenge, and your wife did that. My wife didn't immigrate from 
a foreign country. She came from New Orleans, and we're still trying to 
understand some of the things she says. My mother immigrated from 
Australia, and the Australians are going to have to learn English 
someday themselves.
  But I think the real sad fact is that there are actually people that 
think that there's some good that can come out of this not only for 
America, but for the immigrants and immigrants around the world if we 
think breaking the law is now going to be a standard. If you want to 
live in a country where their law is bought and sold and shifted around 
by politicians just for political expediency, there's a lot of 
countries you can go to. Those countries tend to be poor, downtrodden, 
and poverty-stricken, and, by the way, happen to be the places that a 
lot of these illegal immigrants are coming from. But why transfer that 
corruption from those Third World countries into this country and 
destroy the mother's milk of freedom, the concept of the rule of law, 
while at the same time you're saying that the economic backbone of 
freedom, the middle class, is expendable at the same time?

  In fact, there are people that try to accommodate illegal immigration 
to such a point that this bill that the Senate is proposing will say 
that an illegal alien qualifies for in-State tuition, even though a 
United States citizen doesn't qualify. And this really hits me 
personally, because in the State of California, where I have been a 
resident since the day I was born, I have paid taxes my entire adult 
life, I was told that my children, to get in-State tuition, I had to 
show a personal tax return. But somebody that they suspect is an 
illegal alien doesn't have to show their personal records; they just 
have to show utility bills. And when I said, I'll show you my utility 
bills, I'll show you all the way back to the '70s; oh, excuse me, sir, 
you don't qualify because we don't think you're illegal.
  So if the American people think this is just about illegals and just 
about, you know, 12- to 20 million, they've got to remember that they 
are going to be put in a position of having to prove more than somebody 
who is illegally in this country; that American citizens will become 
second-class citizens to those who are not even citizens and not even 
legal. This is how absurd this line goes if you follow Mr. Kennedy off 
the edge.
  And remember, this is the same man, in 1986, that said no more 
amnesties anymore. I guarantee it. That is a sad state of affairs that 
the American people are facing, that same big lie, 20 years later. And 
it's time we say no.
  And I'm so proud, I am so proud to be an American, knowing that the 
American people called those Senators, e-mailed them, faxed them and 
wrote them to where the Senate, rather than trying to cram this through 
this week, were forced to back off and give some time. And now this 
next week the American people will have more time to read the fine 
print, read about things like in-State tuition and loans to illegal 
aliens, and read about what is really in this bill and how bad it 
really is.
  And I'd like to yield back to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. CARTER. And I thank the gentleman for yielding. There are a lot 
of interesting things in this bill that common sense tells you that 
nobody's thinking about this. I'll just give one example. They have 
told us that there are people that have been waiting legally, and 
they're going to make sure that these illegals will get behind those 
people, and it will take approximately 8 years to process these people.
  Now, I just sat down and looked at it. If you take the people that 
are in the pipeline right now, and I don't remember the number, but 
it's a couple of million, I think, and we're going to process them over 
8 years to get them processed in doing it the right way, these are 
people doing it the right way, and I can tell you this, I know this for 
a fact. The last time I checked, which was about 3 months ago, those 
people we were helping who were doing it

[[Page H5717]]

right processed their papers through the San Antonio office, which is 
where, our part of Texas, I live just north of Austin, San Antonio 
office, they were still working on 1999 and 2000. They may be up to 
halfway to 2001 right now. So they're 7 or 8 years behind. So they got 
the number right.
  Now they're going to tell us that they're going to take 12 million 
and instantly process them for a Z visa. About 18 months they say it'll 
take. So that tells you right off that the standards have got to be 
different. They have to be different.
  And I was asking questions of someone who seemed to have some 
knowledge of the bill, and he said, well, you take a full handprint, 
you run it through all the criminal records, and you find out whether 
they've got a criminal record. Well, if that's so easy, why is the 
number one answer that we get from the Immigration and Naturalization 
Service when we call them, why are we delayed, FBI's got to do 
background checks? These things are extensive. They take a long time. 
Wait a minute. Take a full handprint and run it through the records. 
That's what we're told we're going to for these Z visas. That's not 
enough for the legal people, but it seems to be enough for the illegal 
people.
  How about the fact that we've got diseases south of our southern 
border which are incurable, like a strain of tuberculosis? Shouldn't 
everybody that's here have a medical check? Where is it? Is it going to 
be there? It doesn't sound like it is.
  Mr. BILBRAY. Not even mentioned.
  Mr. CARTER. Not even mentioned.
  So, you know, I think there was some good-hearted people tried, but 
they tried miserably on this bill. The American people want to take our 
time and do this right. And right now their concern, if you ask them, 
you don't hear them say, I want new immigration policy. You hear them 
say, I want the illegal immigration problem stopped, which means pour 
the resources to the border, pour the resources to law enforcement, 
enforce the laws that are on the books. And then when the American 
people say, you know what, we can trust our government again to enforce 
the law, that's when they will be willing to say, now let's work with 
coming up with alternatives to make this whole thing work. And we can 
do it right the next time.
  This is the wrong bill, the wrong time and, as Ms. Foxx pointed out, 
shoved down our throat by the Democrat majority.

                              {time}  2345

  Mr. BILBRAY. Congressman, you hit on the real point. In a Republic 
where the governed get to choose the government, trust is an essential 
component. And there isn't any trust in the American people when it 
comes to the Federal Government enforcing our immigration laws. There 
isn't any credibility in the Federal Government when it comes to 
stopping illegal immigration.
  The American people believe, and rightfully so, that special 
interests manipulate the Federal Government to stop illegal immigration 
from being controlled in the past, and that unless they really scream 
loud and start holding elected officials accountable at the polling 
box, that they are going to continue to have that type of corruption 
delivered to them when it comes to the immigration issue.
  I want to just say clearly, a lot of people say why am I feeling so 
strong on this concept of amnesty? Why can't we just do it one more 
time? Let me tell you something. I have talked to people south of the 
border and in Third World countries all over the world. And if people 
would take the time to listen.
  To give an example, a congressman in Zacatecas, Mexico, a Mexican 
congressman, says to me, Look, Brian, you know you have got to educate 
these people because we all down here know you are going to give 
amnesty again. They are all going to be U.S. citizens. Why do you think 
they are coming up illegally? They know you are going to reward them.
  You go down to places like Central America. They say, Look, we are 
told come on up now. America is going to give us amnesty. We are going 
to become citizens. The way to America is come illegal. That message is 
being heard around the world. We need to send a clear and defined 
message that says no more amnesty, no more rewards for illegal 
behavior. You want to be an American? You follow the law and play by 
the rules. If you are not willing to do it, we will never give amnesty 
again. And, believe me, if we send that clear message, if we stop this 
amnesty, people around world will finally understand, no, it is no 
longer the option to come here illegally. You have got to play by the 
rules.
  And then and only then will we see the ability to control not just 
our border; but our neighborhoods, our jobs, our parks, our hospitals, 
our schools, are finally going to be ours, and those that we choose to 
be our neighbors, not somebody who snuck in and stole away in the 
middle of the night.
  I am so honored to stand here today with you, sir. I appreciate the 
hard work that you have given the people of Texas and your district, 
and I look forward to working with you to make sure that we present a 
workable, enforceable immigration policy that will stop illegal 
immigration and not allow this proposal in the Senate to move in and 
allow another illegal immigration wave being caused by another ill-
fated amnesty scheme. Thank you very much.
  Mr. CARTER. If the gentleman would yield, I am very honored to appear 
here with you, Mr. Chairman, with all the great work you are doing on 
the Immigration Caucus trying to come up with a solution to this 
illegal immigration in this country. I salute you and all of our 
colleagues who join you in this effort to come up with reasonable 
solutions for a very difficult problem.
  I want to join you in saying to the world, we are asking the rule of 
law to prevail. It's very simple. This Nation was built on the rule of 
law. Let the rule of law prevail. And the rule of law does show 
compassion on the poor and the downtrodden, but it has to exist or they 
have no protection. And if we start to tear down the rule of law, it is 
going to be as harmful to those who are downtrodden and poor as it is 
to the richest man in the world because the rule of law is the basis of 
our Republic.
  So I reach out to the Hispanic community who feels like this is 
targeted to them and say, no, it is targeted to all who come into our 
country illegally. I reach out to those friends back home that say be 
compassionate, and say to them we can be compassionate. Let's get law 
and order back in our land and then let's show compassion. But law and 
order must come first. It is what this country was built on.
  Mr. BILBRAY. I would like to close, Mr. Speaker, by announcing that 
the American people have really spoken this week, stopped the Senate 
from forcing something through the Senate. And not only that, they have 
sent the message to their Members of the House of Representatives. And 
I would like to announce today that this week, because of all the 
reaction and the backlash against the Senate amnesty scheme, five new 
Members have joined the Immigration Reform Caucus in the House of 
Representatives. And I am very happy to welcome new Members in that are 
committed and working hard to be able to finally do the right thing on 
illegal immigration and start enforcing our laws the way the American 
people want to do; securing our borders and securing our neighborhoods 
and securing our future for our grandchildren.

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