On the recordJuly 31, 2013
they say history has a way of repeating itself. That certainly came true in June when the Senate approved a sweeping reform bill to revamp the nation's immigration laws. Unfortunately, the U.S. Senate failed to learn from the mistakes created by the 1986 overhaul. In the 1980s, about 3 million people who were living in the country illegally were granted legal status. Today, 27 years later, the U.S. estimates 11 million undocumented immigrants are living here. What should that tell us? It says that the 1986 law failed to stem the flow of illegal immigration. It sent the wrong signal by granting legal status to millions while ignoring the need to secure the border. I do not need a crystal ball to tell me what would happen on the road ahead if we repeat the mistakes of the past. I saw how legalizing before securing our borders turned out. It turned America's time- honored welcome mat into a timeworn doormat. America's immigration system is broken. It is time to fix it so that a legal flow of immigration can help the economy and bolster areas of the workforce that are short of workers, from low-skilled to high-tech workers. But immigration laws should not come at the expense of American workers or cause them to be disadvantaged, displaced or underpaid. Rooting out fraud and abuse from many of our visa programs should be a priority. Unfortunately, the bill passed by the U.S.…





