Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I wish to remind my colleagues that we were promised an open and fair process on this legislation. The fact that the majority is moving to table my amendment proves this so-called open and fair process is a farce. The majority is afraid to have an up-or-down vote on my amendment. They are apparently afraid to have an open debate and vote on a provision that ensures true border security before legalization, and that is what the people of this country want. They claim to be open to improving the bill, but this motion to table shows they are not ready to fundamentally change the bill.

By tabling my amendment, the majority is stifling progress on this bill. They are refusing to have an amendment process to improve it. This is not the right way to start off on a very important bill.

You know, we only do immigration reform once every 25 years. So what is the hurry? Surely, we need an amendment process in which true immigration reform can succeed. There is a lesson to be learned from the 1986 legislation that is now the law of the land. Then, we legalized first and thought we were going to secure the border later, which we never did.

So this amendment is the first of many that will improve the bill and do what the authors of the bill say they want to do, secure the border and do what the American people expect us to do. If the American people are being asked to accept a legalization program in exchange for that compassionate approach, they should be assured that the laws are going to be enforced.

But as we read the details of the bill, it is clear the approach taken is legalize first, enforce later, the same mistake that was made in 1986. My amendment would fundamentally change that. The amendment that is now pending would require the Secretary to certify to Congress that the Secretary has maintained effective control over the entire southern border for at least 6 months before processing applications for legalization.

It is a commonsense approach: border security first, like promised, legalize next. If the bill passes as is, the Secretary only needs to submit two plans before processing people through the legalization program. We do not need to pass any more legislation that tells this administration to do a job that is already required of them that they are not doing. People want laws enforced. Nevertheless, the bill would start legalization even if the strategies the Secretary submits to Congress are flawed and inadequate. What if this Secretary is not committed to fencing? What if this Secretary believes the border is more secure than ever? Well, in fact, this Secretary told the committee she thought the borders were secure. That should concern all of us.

Legalization status is more than probation. This RPI status is, in fact, legalization. Once a person gets RPI, they get the freedom to live in the United States. They can travel, work, and benefit from everything our country offers. RPI status is de facto permanent legalization.

We all know it will never be taken away. People who say 10 years down the road if we do not have the borders secure, that they are going to take back and classify these people as illegal again, that is naive. Given the history of these types of programs, we know it will never end.

My amendment improves the trigger and fulfills the wish of the American people. My amendment ensures that the border is secured before one person gets legal status.

If we pass this bill as it is, there will be no pressure on this administration or future administrations to secure the border. There will be no push by the legalization advocates to get that job done. We need to work together. We need to secure the border for several reasons, so that we are not back here in the same position 25 years from now saying we made a mistake 25 years ago, like we know now we made a mistake. We need to protect our sovereignty and to protect the homeland and improve national security.

Under my amendment the Secretary would have to prove that we have effective control, as defined in the bill, for 6 months before the applications for registered provisional immigration status are processed. I agree with at least one of the authors of this bill that if the border security title is not improved this bill does not stand a chance of getting to the President.

So my amendment is a first and necessary step to fixing this issue.

I yield the floor.

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, reserving the right to object----

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Mr. GRASSLEY. I have a suggestion: that we agree to everything for the first four amendments on the list.

I object.

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Yes.

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Reserving the right to object----

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Mr. GRASSLEY. I suggest to the majority leader we can agree to what he has suggested except for Heller amendment No. 1227.

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Yes.

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