[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 56 (Tuesday, April 20, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H2651]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


        TEA PARTY VIEWS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AS A SERIOUS PROBLEM

  (Mr. SMITH of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, a New York Times/CBS News poll of 
supporters of the Tea Party movement revealed that 97 percent of Tea 
Partiers view illegal immigration as a serious problem.
  The result is not surprising considering that jobs and the economy 
are top priorities of Tea Party backers. More than 15 million Americans 
are unemployed, and more than 8 million illegal immigrants are in the 
U.S. labor force. It makes no sense whatsoever to force citizens and 
legal immigrants to compete with illegal immigrants for scarce jobs.
  Furthermore, the National Research Council found that an illegal 
immigrant without a high school diploma--about two-thirds of all 
illegal immigrants--imposes a net cost on taxpayers of $89,000 during 
their lifetime. Multiply that by millions of illegal immigrants, and 
that is a multibillion-dollar burden on American taxpayers.

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