CORNYN HIGHLIGHTS HIS IMMIGRATION REFORM BILL AT SENATE HEARING

Capitol Hill Press Releases February 12, 2004

Capitol Hill Press Releases 02-12-2004 For Immediate Release February 12, 2004 CORNYN HIGHLIGHTS HIS IMMIGRATION REFORM BILL AT SENATE HEARING Senate panel examines President’s immigration reform principles WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) joined his colleagues on the Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship subcommittee Thursday for a hearing to examine President Bush’s immigration principles and much-needed immigration reform. During the hearing, chaired by Sen. web site immigration reform news

Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Cornyn discussed legislation he introduced in July, The Border Security and Immigration Reform Act (S.1387), which largely mirrors the President’s immigration reform proposals. Key members of the administration testified at the hearing-titled Evaluating a Temporary Guest Worker Proposal-including Eduardo Aguirre, Director of Citizenship and Immigration Services (U.S. Department of Homeland Security); Asa Hutchinson, Undersecretary of Border and Transportation Security (U.S. Department of Homeland Security); and Steven Law, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Dept. of Labor.

Also, the president of the Texas Roofing Company, Richard R. Birkman, testified at the hearing and met with Sen. Cornyn in the Senator’s office earlier in the afternoon. Cornyn’s bill was the first comprehensive legislation proposed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and played a key role in restarting the dialogue on implementing much needed immigration reform.

For more information about Sen. Cornyn’s bill, please go to: www.cornyn.senate.gov/reform.

– Below is the complete text of Cornyn’s statement at the hearing as prepared — I would like to thank Senator Chambliss for holding today’s important hearing on immigration reform and for giving me this opportunity to briefly discuss the comprehensive immigration reform bill that I introduced in July. I was eager to become a member of the immigration subcommittee because I’ve seen firsthand how broken our immigration system is through my experiences in Texas. My immigration reform bill, The Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2003, acknowledges that millions of undocumented men and women go to work every day in America in violation of our immigration law, outside the protection of our labor law, and without any way of our government knowing who, or where they are. The program I propose would allow us to account for undocumented individuals, distinguishing those who pose a threat to America from those who do not. The fact that we are having this hearing shows that we have common ground in this belief: that the status quo simply cannot continue. I thought the President spoke courageously and forthrightly when he outlined his five immigration reform principles last month, and I believe the President’s basic principles are embodied in my bill. In particular, the President’s fourth principle of immigration reform, as outlined in his speech, is to provide incentives for temporary workers to return to their home country. I believe this is a crucial component of comprehensive immigration reform and one that is embodied in my bill. here immigration reform news

We must provide incentives for risk takers to return to their home country with the capital and skills they have acquired as temporary workers in the U.S. if we are going to address the root cause of illegal immigration.

In my recent visit with government leaders in Mexico City, I was repeatedly told that they want their workers to come back, to return home with capital and skills. They need those small business owners, those entrepreneurs to strengthen a weakened middle class. But our current immigration policy fails to give undocumented immigrants any incentive to make such a return.

My bill includes a provision that would create individual investment accounts from the payroll taxes of temporary workers that they can only collect when they return to their home country. The fact is that there will be no end to illegal immigration across our southern border without economic recovery in Mexico- and that won’t happen unless Mexico’s workers return and build the economy there. Those of us here in America cannot afford for our southern border to remain a one-way street. The guest-worker plan I propose is neither amnesty, nor a guaranteed path to citizenship. Instead, it acknowledges the vital role hard-working immigrants play in our economy and creates a comprehensive program as an important step toward re- establishing respect for our laws and restoring safe working conditions for immigrants who work here. It will enhance America’s homeland security, facilitate enforcement of our immigration and labor laws, and protect millions who labor today outside the protection of the law. My proposal will encourage undocumented immigrants to come out of the shadows, to work within the law, and then to return to their homes and families with the pay and skills they acquire as guest workers in the United States. We must act now. We must strengthen the security of our borders and reform the immigration policy for those who seek to work within the framework of our laws. I urge Congress to act without delay – to follow our President’s lead and pass meaningful immigration reform. Our economy and our homeland security depend on it.

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