Saxby Chambliss: “I sat here with interest, listening to the Senator from North Dakota. I think we agree on an awful lot. I may not agree…”

“I sat here with interest, listening to the Senator from North Dakota. I think we agree on an awful lot. I may not agree with everything he said, but he made some very salient points with respect to the earlier laws we have passed on this issue of immigration and the amnesty--that is what it amounted to--that was given to certain folks who were included in the previous immigration bill the Senator addressed. He is exactly right. It didn't work back then. While there are provisions in this bill, some of which I may agree with--they may be good--there are certain other points in this which simply are not very good pieces of legislation I would like to take a moment to speak on the amnesties that exist in the immigration bill passed by the Judiciary Committee that is now under discussion on the floor. Some in the Senate like to call it something else--earned adjustment or earned citizenship--to try to distinguish it from what Congress has done in the past. However, I believe that the legislation adopted by the Judiciary Committee is so similar to the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act passed by Congress, which everyone agrees is amnesty, that in fairness, what the Senate is being asked to consider today should likewise be called amnesty. One reason why I am opposed to amnesty, or earned legalization, is because the last time Congress addressed what to do about the illegal population in our country, a similar approach was agreed upon, and it did not work.…”