[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5797]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM

  (Mr. YARMUTH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. YARMUTH. Mr. Speaker, opponents of comprehensive immigration 
reform will do anything to stop progress in today's world. Now they're 
using the terrorist attacks in Boston to somehow draw some connection 
between those events and the problems that really plague our 
immigration system. There is no connection, but problems still remain.
  We still have to secure our borders. We still have to make sure that 
employers are only employing legal Americans. We still have 11 million 
undocumented people in this country. We don't know why they're here or 
who they are. We still need seasonal workers for many economic 
activities. We still need highly skilled workers--engineers and 
technicians--some of whom have been trained here but cannot work here. 
We still have people overstaying their visas, and we still have the 
problem that we need to increase the flow of immigration to stimulate 
our economy.
  Delaying immigration reform will only weaken our economy and make us 
less safe. It is much better that we know everyone who is in our 
country, why they're here, and make sure they're paying taxes and 
contributing to American society. We need to pass immigration reform 
now.

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