Jane Harman: “I rise today as the daughter of immigrants in favor of removing the poorly designed and unfairly restrictive legal…”

“I rise today as the daughter of immigrants in favor of removing the poorly designed and unfairly restrictive legal immigration provisions from the bill before us. I strongly support and have cosponsored the tough measures in this legislation to crack down on illegal immigration. But, like most Americans, although not some that we have just heard from, I believe that legal immigration is the lifeblood of this country, enriching our Nation economically and culturally. We should, of course, be open to reasonable reforms in our legal immigration policy, but H.R. 2202 goes too far. By the year 2002, as we have already heard, the bill will cut legal immigration by 40 percent, and the bill's cap on refugee admissions, which, fortunately, has already been removed, would effectively have ended our historical commitment to helping those who, like my father, who grew up in Nazi Germany, flee oppression and genocide. H.R. 2202 includes important and effective tools for fighting illegal immigration. Let us not bind those changes to the unacceptable legal immigration cuts in title IV.”