Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006

COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM ACT OF 2006 -- (Senate - May 16, 2006)

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, there is no doubt that trying to fix our broken immigration system is a complex issue. Frankly, part of what we have been trying to do is to find solutions that thread the needle and shrink the gap between the approach of the House of Representatives, which is primarily an enforcement-only bill, and comprehensive immigration reform that I believe is supported by most of us in the Senate, including myself.

I differ with the sponsors of the bill in the Senate, and I intend to offer amendments that will, I believe, improve it, while retaining its comprehensive nature. I believe it is simply surreal to suggest that what the amendment of the Senator from Georgia does somehow retreats to the House position and is an enforcement-only approach.

Indeed, I think the Senator from Georgia has struck upon an ingenious way to thread the needle by saying, yes, we believe that border security is important; yes, we believe that we ought to produce the computer systems, hire and train the people, create the databases which will actually make this reform work, rather than put the cart before the horse and say, with the stroke of a pen, that 12 million people who are living out of legal status are suddenly legal; and, yes, we are going to have 325,000 new people each year come into the country, regardless of whether our economy is in a boom or a bust and possibly compete with Americans for those jobs.

What the Senator from Georgia has done is say let's put the horse in front of the cart, not the cart in front of the horse. Let's do first things first. Let's make sure this will actually work.

Last night the President talked about sending 6,000 National Guard troops to help the Border Patrol secure the border, recognizing that it takes time to train Border Patrol agents. We now train them at the rate of 1,500 a year, and we can't all of a sudden secure the border because we can't all of a sudden train enough Border Patrol agents. We can't all of a sudden, with the wave of a magic wand, build the infrastructure that is necessary. We can't, with the wave of a magic wand, issue the request for proposals to actually let the contracts that will allow the construction of the computer systems and the databases that will actually make this work. We can't, with the wave of a magic wand, say we are going to create a secure identification card which will allow employers to verify the eligibility of prospective employees. It is going to take a little bit of time.

But that is not the same thing as saying, as the Senator from Colorado has said, that somehow we are going with an enforcement-only approach.

I support a comprehensive immigration reform plan that is built on a foundation of border security, that says we need to have worksite verification, that we need to have a secure identification card so that employers can determine whether in fact a person is eligible to work. I believe we ought to have sanctions against employers who cheat. I believe we ought to have a temporary worker program, not like the proposed guest worker program in this underlying bill, and that will be the subject for future amendments.

The message we need to send the American people is that we are actually serious about making this proposed comprehensive immigration reform system work. If we adopt the amendment of the Senator from Colorado, it will send a message that we are not serious about making sure we have the infrastructure and the people and the systems and the cards in place that will actually make this comprehensive reform work.

The American people have already been burned once very badly when it comes to comprehensive immigration reform. In 1986, when President Ronald Reagan signed an amnesty, the tradeoff was supposed to be worksite verification and employer sanctions for employers who cheat. But the Federal Government never did what it was supposed to do by providing the means for employers to actually make that determination in a way that had some integrity. Now I believe the American people are looking at us skeptically, wondering whether we are going to try to pull the rug out from under them again.

The American people can be amazingly tolerant, they can be amazingly forgiving, but they won't be mocked, and they will not believe us unless we build some confidence into the system by saying we are going to take care of helping to secure the border, we are going to provide the means to enforce this system, before we are going to implement a 12-million person amnesty which will put a tremendous load on the men and women who are supposed to administer this system. Can you imagine how long it will take to make this happen? All this does is say let's do first things first, rather than put the cart before the horse.

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