Ed Royce: “I rise to oppose this rule, Mr. Speaker. What happened to openness and transparency? We are operating here under same…”

“I rise to oppose this rule, Mr. Speaker. What happened to openness and transparency? We are operating here under same day consideration with no opportunity for a motion to recommit. We are in the 11th hour of this Congress, and even if we and even if the American people really had had a chance to read what was in this bill, it doesn't really matter what the seeming requirements are that have been explained here because the bill allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to waive the requirements--to waive the requirements. Under this bill, any illegal immigrant may apply for an application for cancellation of removal and for conditional non-immigrant status. DHS may not remove any alien who has a pending application for conditional status. This status is valid for 5 years. It can be extended by DHS for another 5 years. All the while, the individual will be allowed to work in the United States and travel outside of the U.S. With every amnesty, we have had a problem with massive fraud. About one-fourth of those legalized under the 1986 law received amnesty fraudulently. As one former U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service employee told us, the system that exists now can't handle the workload that exists now. There is a backlog now with 3 million people waiting to get their cases decided. What do you think is going to happen when we have millions of new cases on top of that that USCIS has to investigate?”