Jim Sensenbrenner: “immigration reform, unfortunately, is one of those hot button issues that politicians use for their own purposes.…”

“immigration reform, unfortunately, is one of those hot button issues that politicians use for their own purposes. However, here on the floor of the House of Representatives, we should not be politicians, but rather we should be legislators. It seems to me, we should shoulder the responsibility the Constitution gives us to determine what our immigration policy should be and to enact the laws which implement such policy. H.R. 2202 says our immigration policy should be ``In the National Interest''--that immigration should benefit the country as a whole. According to the Roper poll in December 1995, 83 percent of those polled want a reduction in all immigration and 75 percent want illegal aliens removed. H.R. 2202 is a step in that direction. President Clinton organized a Commission headed by the late Barbara Jordan to study our immigration policies, to see if the current system is working, and to make recommendations if it is not. H.R. 2202 contains over 80 percent of those recommendations--recommendations which include legal and illegal immigration. The committee will be asked to vote later on to strike some of the sections on legal immigration because they, ``don't belong in a bill about illegal immigration.'' This bill is not about legal or illegal immigration, it is about our national immigration policy--immigration in the national interest. A national interest which is impacted by both legal and illegal immigration.”