Dianne Feinstein: “I offer these words on behalf of Senator Boxer, my friend and colleague, and myself. Senator Craig said it correctly.…”

“I offer these words on behalf of Senator Boxer, my friend and colleague, and myself. Senator Craig said it correctly. Senator Boxer and I have more illegal people in one county than most Senators have in their entire State. Therefore, what happens here is of serious consequence for the people of California and for us as well. We are both going to vote for this motion to commit. We are going to vote for it with the hope that the ensuing weeks are going to enable some parts of it to be worked out more clearly. I serve on Judiciary. I serve on the Immigration subcommittee. The beauty of the original McCain-Kennedy legislation was that once you accepted that approach, you accepted an approach of balance which was simple and which was able to be carried out. My concern is by developing the three tiers of individuals, as the Martinez plan does, that you create a much more complicated scenario in terms of enforcement and therefore run the risk that it cannot be carried out well, particularly for those here for less than 2 years-- who are in the millions. They simply disappear into the fabric, once again, of America, and you have the same problem all over again. I hope during the 2 weeks cool minds will prevail and that we will be able to work on this legislation further. We have been on rather a forced march, a forced march in Judiciary to mark up a bill. There have been more than a half dozen guest worker plans in committee.…”