John Kerry Supports Comprehensive Immigration Reform, Defends Immigrants Against Divisive Attacks
April 4th, 2006 @ 2:28 pm
John Kerry entered into the debate on immigration reform on the Senate floor today. He offered an amendment to give Border Patrol agents “the tools they need to get the job done” and spoke on the divisive attacks that are polarizing our nation on this issue.
Below are the remarks of Senator John Kerry during the Senate debate today on immigration reform. The remarks that follow are as prepared.
Mr. President, this debate matters to our country – and there can be no doubt that America is watching. We’ve witnessed a tremendous demonstration of public protest and civic participation in American cities across the country. In the Senate and in our communities we are once again wrestling with the important and complicated issue of immigration reform – an issue that goes to the heart of who we are as a people and what we are as a nation. An issue that has divided America repeatedly in our history, revealing humanity and courage side-by-side with isolationism and fear.
We may be divided today as we figure our way forward, but we agree on our past and our heritage as a nation of immigrants—of people who have come to the United States in search of a better life, of freedom, of opportunity, and of having their voices heard.
We also agree that our immigration system is broken. And we agree that more resources must be sent to the border in order to strengthen enforcement, add more border patrol agents, and invest in new technologies. But we are divided over whether simply strengthening enforcement at the border will solve this complicated issue or whether we must do more.
Let’s take a moment to understand the complexity and reality of the problem facing us today. This is a problem I have thought a lot about. I have spent time discussing it with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and other national leaders. There are an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living and working in the United States today. The nation’s employers demand these workers to take low-wage, low-skilled jobs that they are unable to find domestic workers to fill. There are not enough visas for these workers to come legally and, with the lure of higher-paying jobs than they could find in their home countries, workers come to fill them. The system that employers are supposed to use to verify the legal status of employees is weak and subject to exploitation by both workers using false documents and employers who seek only tacitly to comply with the law. Therefore, our challenge is to secure the border, regularize the flow of immigrants into and out of our country, deal with the 11 million undocumented workers currently living in the shadows, and create an effective employee verification system.
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