John Hope Bryant: “This is a press release, OK? This is not an amendment. This is a press release. So you folks can write letters home and…”

“This is a press release, OK? This is not an amendment. This is a press release. So you folks can write letters home and say, ``Oh, boy, I got tough on illegal immigration.'' This bill gets tough on illegal immigration. Unfortunately, I guess the situation is that some do not feel that by cosponsoring the bill or voting for it they are going to get enough of a zing out of the press release when it gets back home again. The fact of the matter is you are putting these people that will never even know what our law is and wander into the country, come to the country on purpose trying to make a better life for themselves in the same situation in which we put international terrorists. It is perfectly ridiculous to say we are going to have a permanent ban on somebody who is totally ignorant of our laws and comes into our country illegally. The bill puts a 10-year probation on some and 5 years on others. It is based on a lengthy study by the commission that was chaired by Barbara Jordan and by the previous commission that came out of the 1986 bill. This amendment is not based on any study. I think on the face of it, obviously it is not going to have any impact. Do not pile on this bill and make it impossible to pass, for goodness sakes. There is no point in putting these folks in the same category that you put an international terrorist.”