Melvin Watt: “I assure him that I will try not to take the entire 10 minutes that he has granted to me for this purpose. But I did…”

“I assure him that I will try not to take the entire 10 minutes that he has granted to me for this purpose. But I did think it was important for somebody to come and make the case against this bill and to try to put in perspective what we are trying to do. I have heard throughout the debate on the rule and even the beginnings of the debate on the bill some claims about what this bill will do, which I think are gross overstatements and exaggerations. One of those during the rule debates, somebody came and said that this bill would do something to keep Mohammed Atta from going to flight school in this country. I just think that is a gross exaggeration and the public should not be expecting magic from this bill. I heard somebody say that this is a Democratic bill. My response to that is that immigration policy is neither Democratic nor Republican. We should be trying to do what is in the best interest of the public, and this should not be about politics. I have heard people say that this bill will make immigration services and enforcement more efficient. And I have some very, very serious reservations about that. In fact, I believe the bill could make matters substantially worse, and I think we need to spend some time talking about that.”