[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 151 (Thursday, November 29, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H6508-H6509]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             TURNING THE CORNER ON REAL IMMIGRATION REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, let me tell you how you know you've

[[Page H6509]]

turned the corner on the immigration debate.
  When Sean Hannity and Senator Rand Paul and a group of others in the 
Republican Party begin saying it's time to rethink the party's approach 
to immigration, we've probably reached a milestone. When Donald Trump 
says the Republican policy of asking 12 million people to self-deport 
is a ``crazy policy'' that likely cost the Republicans the White House, 
you've turned a corner. Any time I agree with Donald Trump, hope for a 
bipartisan agreement should be running high.
  Most Americans believe that Election Day demonstrated that it's time 
to move beyond the same old politics, the same tired blame game on 
immigration. So, when I saw a Republican-sponsored STEM visa bill on 
the House calendar this week, I thought, well, maybe House Republicans 
are changing their tune. On the campaign trail, we heard Governor 
Romney say he supported stapling green cards to the diplomas of every 
math and science graduate from our universities. Why should we educate 
some of the best minds on Earth and then say, ``Sorry, no room in the 
U.S. economy for you''? It makes no sense. They go away and compete 
against us rather than innovating and creating jobs here.
  Then I took a closer look at what the Republicans are actually 
proposing. They haven't turned a corner at all. In fact, they haven't 
even stepped out of their houses. They certainly didn't learn anything 
from the last election. The STEM visa bill on the House floor this week 
was actually voted down in September. It was introduced with a few 
changes but with absolutely no consultation with Democrats.
  I want to find a bipartisan solution on immigration. I am committed 
to it. I know it won't be easy. They say a journey of a thousand miles 
begins with just one step. The problem is my colleagues on the other 
side of the aisle want to take one step and have the Democrats travel 
the other 999.9 miles. Certainly, this bill isn't even a step--it's a 
shuffle; it's a shell game. It has exactly the same problem that the 
STEM bill in September had. It moves visas from a legal immigration 
program, which works, over to a new visa category where there may or 
may not be sufficient demand to use those visas each year.
  Immigration is always a zero-sum game for my colleagues on the other 
side: we will only increase visas for immigrants we like if we can 
eliminate immigration for immigrants we don't like. But it isn't even a 
zero-sum trick they're pulling here. Best estimates are that only 
20,000 STEM visas would be issued to graduates, meaning that the other 
35 visas would just disappear.
  Which immigrants do they want to exclude in order to play this game?
  They're people from around the world who want a chance to make a new 
life for themselves in the U.S., people like the fathers and mothers 
and grandparents of almost every Member of Congress. In this case, half 
of the people who come to America legally, through the Diversity Visa 
program, come from the continent of Africa, over half of them. Yet they 
come from all over. So the Republicans would have us say to the good 
people of Ghana or South Africa--but also to the people of Sweden and 
Ireland and New Zealand and Taiwan who apply to come here legally--
sorry, we have to withdraw the chance you had at 50,000 visas so we can 
divert them to, maybe, 20,000 STEM graduates. Maybe. Once again, the 
Republicans' math doesn't add up.
  Here is something I'll bet you didn't know about the Diversity Visa 
program, which is that many of them come to this country and join the 
Armed Forces of the United States of America. But these legal 
immigrants are the target of the Republican bill.
  I have news for my friends on the other side of the aisle: you can't 
fool immigrants. You can't pretend to be pro-immigrant and then 
eliminate immigration from one group to allow another group to come.
  I woke up the day after the election and I saw a new landscape for 
the immigration debate. It is one in which Democrats and Republicans 
work together to solve tough problems facing the United States. We 
should not treat this as an opportunity for politicians to score 
political points again, but sadly, that is what is happening here. I 
want Republicans to know that Democrats support STEM visas. We don't 
need to kill other legal immigration programs to create a STEM program, 
but Republicans are more interested in killing the Diversity Visa 
program than in creating a program for STEM graduates. For this bill, 
no matter what happens on Friday, it will not pass in the Senate.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe we can turn the corner on real immigration 
reform but only if Republicans are willing to put on their walking 
shoes and take a few steps with Democrats, walking side by side, for a 
greater, better America.

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