Immigration
Floor Speech
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Mr. DUFFY. Mr. Speaker, tonight, we want to have a conversation about immigration and immigration reform because we recognize that in 1986, when Congress and the President came together for immigration reform, it didn't work. It didn't work for immigrants; it didn't work for our border; and it didn't work for America. Just recently, we've seen that our Senate has come forward with proposed legislation, and that too doesn't work. It's a proposal that doesn't secure our border. It's a proposal that won't work long term for America.
We're here to address the problems that we face in this country with real solutions that work for people and work for our country. We're here to say that we're with you. If you want to work hard and you want to contribute to our American economy, we're with you. If you want to obey our laws and if you want a shot at our free enterprise system, we're with you. If you believe that America has a right to secure her borders, to know who's coming in and out of our country, we're with you. If you want to pay taxes and pledge allegiance to America, we're with you. And if you want your shot at the American Dream, we're with you.
We're a party that looks at the big problems in our country, and we come out with big solutions to fix those problems. We're not a party of ``no.'' We are a party of solutions. That's why I'm honored to be here tonight with a few of my fellow colleagues to talk about the solutions in regard to immigration, solutions that are going to work. And that' why I'm honored right now to yield to the gentleman from Illinois for his thoughts on immigration.
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Mr. DUFFY. It is that very point. It is that lack of trust with the American people and Washington, D.C. That's why we want to go through a step-by-step approach, analyzing immigration and immigration reform.
The gentleman from North Carolina said we're here to fight for people. We're here to fix a broken system, and we're here to make it work. We want to have a reform bill that is going to actually be fair--be fair to those who have come to participate in our economy, but be fair to people who are Americans that say we are a country of laws, and we also are a country of immigrants.
I think the key first step is border security. We have to debate, negotiate, discuss what does border security mean. Once we agree on what border security is, and once we secure the border, we can go to the next phase, which is to say we have millions of people who have come into our country, what's the fair way to treat them. In my opinion, and I am open to hearing feedback from all kinds of people as we have this conversation and debate, I haven't dug my heels in. But, number one, we have to say, do you get to go to the head of the line and become a U.S. citizen when you've come here without documentation? I don't know that that's the first step after border security. But what I do think we have to say is if you've come here and you've participated in our economy, we can offer some kind of legal status, a legal status that isn't citizenship, but it's a legal status that says we're not going to arrest you in the middle of the night. We're not going to separate you from your grandparents or your kids. You can stay in our country because the border is secure. We're not going to have to address this problem 10 years from now or 20 years from now or 25 years from now. We've addressed the border, which means that we've addressed the inflow of people coming to our country illegally.
When that happens, we can offer those without documentation a status that says you can stay here and you can work; but if you want to become a citizen, you're going to have to get to the back of the line. You don't get a special pathway into the front of the line. You can go to the back and you can become a citizen, but you can stay here legally. And by staying here legally, you can pay your taxes, but that doesn't mean you can vote. And it also doesn't mean that you can collect off the entitlement system that we have here in America.
I think as we have that conversation with those who are here without documentation and those who care about the laws in America, we can have a conversation that actually works for everybody and everybody can agree to. I look forward to that conversation, on finding a pathway and a consensus forward that works for everybody.
With that, I yield to the gentleman from Colorado.
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Mr. DUFFY. I appreciate the gentleman from North Carolina's comments. And you look around at immigrants that come to America, why do they come? They've come for the American Dream. They've come for a better life for themselves. They've come for a better life for their children. They've come to the land of opportunity because they want that opportunity. They want to work hard.
I'm from Wisconsin. Many people may not want to recognize this, but if you look at our dairy farms around Wisconsin, there are a lot of immigrants who have come here without documentation that work on our farms. And it's hard, tough work; and they do it because they want an opportunity.
I travel around and do a lot of town halls, and I know my colleagues do town halls and coffees. I would ask the gentlemen from Colorado and Illinois what you guys hear in your town halls, what people think about immigration and the problems and the solutions you face in your communities.
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Mr. DUFFY. And I hear similar things, and that's why people say, Take it slow. Talk about it. Talk to us.
Let's do what's right. Let's do what works for the very people that you talked about. Some call them the Dreamers, people who are here at 17 years old or 14 years old and know no other country, but they're here. They're part of our communities, our society, and our schools. Let's do what's right by them, but also let's do what's right for our next generation by securing this border.
I want to talk about just one story. I have a good friend back in Ashland, Wisconsin. He came here legally, but it goes to the work ethic of those who come for opportunity and the American Dream.
It's Bah Lee. He owns a nail shop in Ashland, Wisconsin, and he was raised in an orphanage in Vietnam. And the sister nuns, as he tells the story, saved money in the orphanage and they sent him to America. And he couldn't speak the language, and I think he was in Texas where he got a job in a fast-food restaurant.
And from fast-food, he got a job as a painter. And all the painters got mad at him because he was such a fast painter and they were, like, Slow down. You're making us all look bad. He said, No, I'm here to paint. In very short order he was the highest-paid painter; doesn't speak the language very well, from Vietnam, but man, could he paint.
He saved money, sent money back to the sister nuns in Vietnam to help the orphanage but saved money himself, and he opened up a nail salon. And after that nail salon, another nail salon, and he sold them and he built them and he sold them.
Eventually, he said, I don't like the hot weather anymore, so he moved up to northern Wisconsin, where he bought a building on Main Street, Ashland; right? And he opened up California Nails.
And during the day, Lee does nails, and at night--it's an old 1900 building. It was barren up there. He built five apartments, by himself, at night, in the upstairs of his office building. And then in the downstairs, which was not the nicest location and smelled, he ripped it out and built new apartments downstairs.
But a guy that worked all day and all night for his shot at the American Dream, helping his people back at home, but helping our community, showing what immigrants do to make America better. And it's that story, which is the American story, that I'm fighting for, to have a system that actually works for people who are here legally and people who want a shot at what we have to offer.
And with that, I yield back to the gentleman from North Carolina for his comments on what he hears in his town halls on where we need to go with regard to immigration reform.
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