Political Quotes

“Yesterday, the Immigration and Naturalization Service [INS] officially released its legal immigration numbers for 1996. Attached please find an analysis by the staff of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee that helps place these numbers into context. The analysis finds: First, the 1996 increase in immigration is not part of a long-term rise in legal immigration but rather a temporary increase. Second, many additional people being counted as immigrants in 1996 and 1997 were not new entrants but were already physically in the country as the spouses of those who received amnesty under the law signed by President Reagan in 1986. Third, the increase is due largely to INS processing delays that caused many people who would have been counted as immigrants in 1995 to be counted in 1996. Fourth, after a 20-percent decline between 1993 and 1995, this short-term increase in legal immigration numbers is expected to be followed by another decline to previous levels within 2 to 3 years. And finally, in historical terms, legal immigration is moderate when measured as a percentage of the U.S. population--0.3 percent--the most accurate measurement of immigrants' economic and demographic impact. Numerically, legal immigration in 1996 was below the level recorded on 10 other occasions since 1904. As chairman of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee, I hope this analysis sheds light on the legal immigration numbers released yesterday by INS.”