Alan Simpson: “It is clear here--two generations; about 45 years; two generations. This is it. That is happening now. But you ought to…”

“It is clear here--two generations; about 45 years; two generations. This is it. That is happening now. But you ought to remember what we did. We did legalization. The Senator from Illinois was part of that. I always appreciated his remarkable interest in that. We then "legalized" people who were here illegally living in a subculture of America. That was in 1986. Then there was a temporary period. Those people have now begun a full range of petitioning. They are U.S. citizens. They are filing, and they are filing under the present system. They are big numbers down the road. But we also have big numbers on the road right now, according to the INS, where they short-informed us, or short-sheeted us by 100,000 to 150,000 in number this year. So when I get up--and I have a tendency to rant lightly from time to time. But when I say what we are trying to do is eliminate the issue of persons bringing in 30, 40, 50, 60, the all-time record was 83 persons on a single petition, that is what we are trying to do. So, if we are going to continue to talk about family and treating those fairly who are here and those who play by the rules--I understand that and all of those things--then this is where we are. Even the most ardent proimmigration advocates cannot with credibility oppose legislation to control illegal immigration. That will not happen. But this, at least for me, is a presentation of where we are in this country, and we will just see where the amendment goes.”