Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act--Continued--

Floor Speech

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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Madam President, I come to the floor today to ask my colleagues to join us in supporting the historic comprehensive immigration bill that is before us today.

We worked hard on the Judiciary Committee to craft a strong bipartisan bill that bolsters our economy, secures our borders and promotes opportunity for both businesses and families.

I thank all of those involved in the original bill--Senators Schumer, McCain, Durbin, Graham, Menendez, Rubio, Bennet and Flake. I thank the members of the Judiciary Committee who all had a hand in changes to the bill. And I specifically want to thank Senator Hatch who worked with me on the I-Squared--Immigration Innovation--bill. The bill on the floor today contains many of the provisions from I-Squared that encourage more American innovation.

As you know, we passed this comprehensive immigration bill out of committee on a bipartisan vote of 13 to 5 and I am hopeful we can build that same kind of broad-based support on the Senate floor.

This is not going to be simple. It is not going to be easy. But the most important thing--the reason I am optimistic we can get something done--is the fact that we are all coming at this from the same basic starting point:

Democrats and Republicans, Senators from border States and Senators from inland States, we can all agree on this: Our current immigration system is broken. And changes must be made.

The question now is how those changes should come about, and that is why we are having this debate--to find that common ground and pass a bill that is ultimately stronger because it reflects the needs and priorities of both parties and all regions of the country.

Passing comprehensive immigration reform will be a vital step forward for our country. It will be vital to our immigrant communities, who have been separated their families for too long. It will be vital to our security. And its will be vital to our economy, to strengthening our workforce, addressing our long-term fiscal challenges and promoting innovation.

There are many strong and compelling arguments for immigration reform, but let me begin with the economic impact on our businesses and major industries.

Minnesota is a big agriculture State, just like the State of Wisconsin, Madam President, and I can't tell you how many farmers and agricultural businesses I have heard from who tell me they rely on migrant workers and other immigrants to keep their operations going. I have heard it from high-tech startups, too, as well as big technology companies like 3M, St. Jude and Medtronic. I have heard it from the homebuilders and the construction companies, even hospitals and health care providers.

These businesses represent a vast range of industries and interests. But when it comes to immigration reform, they all agree: It is critical to their operations, and it is a vital engine for growth and innovation.

In fact, history shows that immigrants have helped America lead the world in innovation and entrepreneurship for generations:

More than 30 percent of U.S. Nobel Laureates were born in other countries. Ninety of the Fortune 500 companies were started by immigrants, and 200 were started by immigrants or their children, including 3M, Medtronic, and Hormel in Minnesota.

Workers, inventors, scientists and researchers from around the world have built America. And in an increasingly global economy, they are a big part of keeping our country competitive today.

If we want to continue to be a country that thinks, invents and exports to the world, then we can not afford to shut out the world's talent. It doesn't make sense to educate tomorrow's inventors and then send them back home, so they can start the next Google in India or France.

That's why I introduced the I-Squared Act with Senator Hatch to make much needed reforms to allow our companies to bring in the engineers and scientists they need to compete on the world stage.

One of the things that bill would do is increase fees on employment-based green cards, so that we can also reinvest in or own homegrown innovation pipeline by funding more science, technology, engineering and math initiatives in our schools.

In my State the unemployment rate is at 5.4 percent. We actually have job openings for engineers, we have job openings for welders, and we want those jobs to be filled from kids who go to the University of Minnesota. We want those jobs filled by kids who get a degree at a tech school in Minnesota. But right now we have openings and we have to do a combination of things. We have to be educating our own kids and making sure if there is a doctor coming from another country who is willing to study at the University of Minnesota or in Rochester, MN, and then wants to do his or her residency right in America in an underserved area in a place such as inner-city Minneapolis or a place such as Deep River Falls, MN, we let them do that residency or internship there instead of sending them packing to their own country.

Much of the legislation that was in the I-Squared bill, as I mentioned, is included right here in the bill we are considering. The health care leaders' provision I mentioned originally, called the Conrad 30 bill, something I worked on with Senator Heitkamp and Senator Moran and others--that is also in this bill.

Here's something else that's just good sense: Bringing the roughly 11 million undocumented workers out of the shadows.

Immigrants who are ``off the grid'' can not demand fair pay or benefits, and there are those who seek to take advantage of that. It's a bad thing for the American workers whose wages are

undercut. And it's a bad thing for the American families whose undocumented relatives are being exploited.

In addition to the economic implications, having millions of undocumented people living in our country poses a serious threat to both our national security and public safety.

This bill takes the only rational and feasible approach to bringing these
people out of the shadows, by creating a fair, tough and accountable path to citizenship for those who have entered the country illegally or overstayed their visas.

It's not an easy path. You have to pay fines, stay employed, pass a background check, go to the back of the line, learn English and wait at least 13 years to become a citizen.

And if you have committed a felony or three misdemeanors, you're not eligible. You have to go back to your home country.

Keep in mind, none of these steps towards citizenship would even begin until we had done what is necessary to secure our borders.

This bill immediately appropriates $4.5 billion towards adding more border patrol agents, more fencing, and more technologies like aerial surveillance to prevent illegal crossings over the southern border. That is money that is being committed today, not a promise for future spending or something dependent on future Congresses. That money will be spent to make our border more secure.

I think it is important to recognize that these new efforts would come on top of all the progress we have already made in recent years. Some estimates show that net illegal migration over the Mexican border is actually negative--meaning more people are going back or being sent back to Mexico than are coming here illegally. We have seen a sea change over the last few years and much of it, of course, is because of enforcement efforts going on, many funded by this Congress.

But preventing illegal immigration isn't just about stopping people at the border. It's also about removing the incentive for people to come here illegally in the first place.

The way we do that is by requiring employers to start using the E-Verify system, so they can check whether or not a person is authorized to work in this country. And to ensure the smoothest possible transition, we do it over a 5-year phase-in period based on the size and type of the company. So smaller companies, farmers--those who find it harder to use the system, they will go later.

I believe our compromise on the workplace enforcement issue is a good one, and it's reflective of the bi-partisan, balanced approach that this bill takes overall, on so many other complex issues.

The economic and security arguments for reform are compelling. But we know there is so much more to this.

This is about maintaining America's role as a beacon for hope and justice in the world, particularly for those seeking refuge and asylum.

This is something we know a lot about in Minnesota, where we have always opened our arms to people fleeing violence in their home countries. Minnesota is home to the largest Somali population in North America and the second largest Hmong population in the United States. We actually have the first Hmong woman legislator, Mee Moua. We are better off because of the incredible diversity and entrepreneurial spirit these people have brought to our state.

We are proud of the work these people have done. We know and we believe we are better off because of the incredible diversity and entrepreneurial spirit these people have brought to our State from other countries.

Just as we have granted asylum to people fleeing violence in other countries, we must also look after those fleeing violence here at home. That is why I feel so strongly about the need to ensure immigrant victims of domestic violence are not forced to suffer in silence.

The bill we are considering includes two amendments I introduced in the Judiciary Committee that would protect immigrants who are victims of domestic violence and elder abuse. No person who is being abused should be forced to live in fear because they are worried they will lose their immigration status if they speak up. Children should not be forced to live in fear either. So we need to change our laws to ensure that families are not being torn apart by a system that is not only inefficient and expensive, but cruel: 64,500 immigrant parents were separated from their citizen children during the first 6 months of 2010 as a result of deportation. So this bill is about protecting families. It is also about building families.

If I can say one thing about the domestic abuse issue, I cannot tell you how many cases we had when I was prosecutor where in fact the case would come into the office and the victim would be an immigrant. The perpetrator, we would have found, was threatening to get her deported or get her mother deported, if she was illegal, or get her sister deported or a family member deported if she reported it to the police. This bill fixes a lot of that by the way it handles the U visa program as well as other amendments I included, and it makes it easier to prosecute these perpetrators.

As I mentioned, this bill is also about building families. Minnesota leads the country in international adoptions,

and I've seen the incredible joy an adopted child from another country can bring to a new mom or dad. That's why I have introduced with Senators Coats and Landrieu a set of amendments to improve our system for international adoptions, so that more children can find a loving home here in the United States.

This bill is vital to our economy and to our national security, but most importantly it is vital to maintaining America's remarkable heritage as a nation of immigrants.

I am myself here because of Slovenian and Swiss immigrants. My grandpa on my dad's side worked 1,500 feet underground in the iron-ore mines of Ely, MN. His family came to northern Minnesota in search of work, and the iron ore mines and forests of northern Minnesota seemed the closest thing to home in Slovenia. My grandpa never graduated from high school, but he saved money in a coffee can so my dad could go to college.

My dad earned a journalism degree from the University of Minnesota and was a newspaper reporter and long-time columnist for the Star Tribune. My mom was a teacher and she taught second grade until she was 70 years old. Her parents came from Switzerland to Milwaukee where my great grandma ran a cheese shop. The Depression was hard on their family and out of work for several years, my grandpa made and sold miniature Swiss chalets made out of little pieces of wood.

So I stand here today on the shoulders of immigrants, the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of iron ore miners and cheese-makers and craftsmen, the daughter of a teacher and newspaper man ..... and the first woman elected to the Senate from the State of Minnesota.

It could not have been possible in a country that didn't believe in hard work, fair play and the promise of opportunity. It could not have been possible in a country that didn't open its arms to the risk-takers, pilgrims and pioneers of the world.

So this is a very special and enduring part of the American story. And we need to be sure it continues for future generations in a way that is fair, efficient and legal.

Passing this bill is important to our economy. It is important to our global competitiveness. It is important to our national security. And it is important millions of families throughout the U.S. who want to come here and live that dream my grandparents and great grandparents lived.

It's too important for us not to act. To my colleagues, join us in passing this bill. Let's get it done.

I yield the floor.

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