Mike Enzi: “I opposed S. 1639, the immigration reform bill, and the motion to invoke cloture on this flawed piece of legislation.…”

“I opposed S. 1639, the immigration reform bill, and the motion to invoke cloture on this flawed piece of legislation. Our immigration system is complicated. Our borders remain open. We cannot have immigration reform without strengthening the security of our borders. This unsound bill circumvented our Senate process and attempted to buy off support by throwing in carrots for Senators in exchange for their support. The American people understand what is going on here in the Senate debate and they understand what cloture means. They are flooding our offices in Washington, DC, and our offices in our home States with calls and e-mails so much so that our phone system cannot keep up. The people of Wyoming have made it clear to me that they do not support this legislation. They want something to be done to address our borders, but do not support the blanket amnesty of this bill. The current situation of an open border and an overly complex hiring process encourages illegal immigration and the hiring of illegal workers. Once we improve these situations, we can determine what steps may be necessary for addressing the illegal immigrant population. We should not, however, even be considering amnesty. Amnesty encourages illegal immigration. In 1986, 7 million immigrants were granted amnesty. Today we are facing an illegal population of over 12 million. The 1986 amnesty did not stop illegal immigration.”