Hal Rogers: “Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing legislation to overhaul and dramatically improve the Nation's immigration system.…”

“Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing legislation to overhaul and dramatically improve the Nation's immigration system. The bill would enact the reforms proposed by the bipartisan Commission on Immigration Reform, headed by the late Barbara Jordan. These reforms, received by Congress last year, are based on the most comprehensive bipartisan study of our immigration system to date and they offer a common-sense approach to fixing a system that is broken, failing the citizens it is supposed to protect and the immigrants it is supposed to serve. Since 1984, the Congress has increased the budget of the INS by over 600 percent, yet illegal immigration is at an all-time high and service for illegal immigrants is at an all-time low. Money is no longer an excuse. By implementing these changes, we can end the 3-year backlogs in benefits processing, end the granting of citizenship to criminals and other undeserving individuals, and end the mismanagement of our entire immigration system.”