Tom Tancredo: “Mr. Speaker, the fact is people keep getting up and saying that we are concerned about immigration provisions in the…”

“Mr. Speaker, the fact is people keep getting up and saying that we are concerned about immigration provisions in the bill. We have talked to the Trade Representative. They have responded to our issues; and, in fact, the Committee on the Judiciary will act to change one part of this bill that pertained to immigration provisions, but there are still several parts in this bill that are completely unacceptable, and that should never be in there because they are immigration provisions. It allows for L-1's, an unlimited number of L-1's. Okay. What happens when we actually begin to deal with the violation of the L-1 category that is now rampant? We will be unable to deal with it in terms of Chile and Singapore because it is in the trade agreement that it will not be changed. It cannot be modified. So that is an immigration proposal that is still in this bill. H1-B category visas, what we are saying is that they can be annually renewed as opposed to the present system that requires some degree of attention being paid to renewal. But, as a matter of fact, that is even being ignored significantly. So if we tried to ever reform these categories, if we try to remove them, they will be there forever for these two countries because they are in the trade agreement. And that is the problem with integrating trade agreements and immigration proposals.”