William R. Richardson: “I rise to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman, first let me say that I am very proud of Chairman Ford, the gentleman from…”

“I rise to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman, first let me say that I am very proud of Chairman Ford, the gentleman from Michigan, and the Representative from Florida; the opposition to this legislation, along with the Representative from Maryland, is bipartisan, and it is heartening to see that the House of Representatives is reacting negatively to an assault that seems to be taking place not just on undocumented workers but on legal immigrants and later, next week, on eliminating bilingual education programs that benefit Hispanic children, Asian children, and native American children. While the debate on the restriction is an unfunded mandate debate, I want to speak here briefly on behalf of people who are part of the American dream. What I am pleased with is that it is not just members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, all of whom are opposed to the Rohrabacher amendment on a bipartisan basis, but it is Americans who, for whatever their ethnicity or ancestry, are strongly opposed to what is happening here. Forget the fact that this amendment turns every educator in this country into an INS agent. Schools would have to determine the citizenship status of every student and every parent. Talk about paperwork on teachers, on administrators. First of all, this does not sound like a Republican amendment: more paperwork, more cost, unfunded mandates; with all due respect, the rhetoric we have heard over the years.…”