[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9733-9734]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           IMMIGRATION REFORM

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, today the Supreme Court correctly struck 
down the vast majority of the mean-spirited Arizona law; that is, of 
course, the immigration law. While I agree with the Court's decision to 
invalidate three troubling provisions of Arizona's flawed law, there 
are actually four provisions. Three were declared unconstitutional, one 
was upheld.
  I am concerned about the section they upheld. I am surprised they 
did, but they did. The Justices upheld a measure that allows police to 
conduct immigration checks on anyone they suspect of being in the 
country illegally, even if their only evidence is an accent or maybe 
the color of their skin.
  Allowing Arizona to keep its ``papers please'' system of immigration 
checks invites racial profiling. It gives Arizona officials free rein 
to detain anyone they suspect of being in Arizona without 
documentation.
  As long as this provision remains, innocent American citizens are in 
danger of being detained by police unless they carry immigration papers 
with them at all times. However, it is reassuring that the Court left 
the door open to further court challenges of this unsound provision. I 
say to the Presiding Officer and to anyone within the sound of my 
voice, someone with my skin color or yours, I do not think we are going 
to be carrying our immigration papers with us everyplace we go.
  But if someone is in Arizona and speaks with a little bit of an 
accent or their skin color is brown, they better have their papers with 
them. That is unfortunate. It is reassuring that the Court, though, 
left the door open to further court challenges of this very unsound 
provision. I am optimistic that once that portion of the law is 
implemented, it will be discarded.
  Laws that legalize discrimination are not compatible with laws and 
traditions of equal rights. So it is disturbing that Mitt Romney has 
called the unconstitutional Arizona law a model for immigration reform. 
Anyone who thinks such an unconstitutional law should serve as a model 
for national reform is clearly outside the mainstream.
  The U.S. Supreme Court agreed with that today. Today's partial 
victory affirms the Obama administration was right to challenge this 
awful law, and it is a reminder that the ultimate responsibility for 
fixing our Nation's broken immigration system rests with Congress.
  Instead of allowing 50 States to have 50 different enforcement 
mechanisms, we need a national solution that continues to secure the 
border, punishes unscrupulous employers that exploit immigrants and 
undercut American wages, improves our dysfunctional legal immigration 
system, and requires the 11 million people who are undocumented to 
register with the government, pay fines and taxes, learn English, work, 
stay out of trouble, and go to the end of the line to legalize their 
status.
  Democrats are ready for this challenge. We have been willing to craft 
a commonsense legal solution for a long time, one that is fair, tough, 
and practical. As I have indicated, we have been ready to do this for 
years. We have tried on a few occasions. The problem now and has been, 
Republicans will not vote for immigration reform--simple as that. We 
have tried.
  The first step would be to pass the DREAM Act, which would create a 
pathway to citizenship for children brought to the country through no 
fault of their own. If upstanding young people stay out of trouble, 
work hard in high school, they should have a chance to serve their 
country in the military, go to college, and work toward citizenship.
  Unfortunately, Mitt Romney said he would veto that, the DREAM Act. 
President Obama, on the other hand, took decisive action in halting 
deportation of the DREAMers. His directive will protect 800,000 young 
people and focus law enforcement resources where they belong, on 
deporting criminals.
  As we all know, though, this is not a permanent solution. But 
President Obama's decision to defer these deportations was necessary 
precisely because Republicans have so far refused to work with 
Democrats on a solution. Congress must consider a long-term resolution 
to protect the DREAMers and tackle comprehensive immigration

[[Page 9734]]

reform that addresses all 11 million undocumented people living in this 
country.
  But that will take cooperation from my Republican colleagues. That 
has not been forthcoming. This week, we have a lot to accomplish, and 
getting it all done before the July 4 holiday will also take 
cooperation. By Friday, the Senate must pass flood insurance that will 
allow millions of Americans to close on new homes or new properties. We 
must send to the President a bill to ease drug shortages. That is the 
FDA bill. We need to protect 3 millions jobs with an agreement on 
transportation legislation, and the deadline to stop student loan rates 
from doubling for 7 million students looms at the end of this week as 
well.
  I am putting my colleagues on notice that the Senate will stay as 
long as we have to, into the weekend if necessary, to complete this 
substantial workload. We hope there will be cooperation not only in 
this body but also in the House of Representatives. I alert everyone, 
we have a lot to do--extremely important pieces of legislation. We have 
to complete them before we leave this week.

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