Immigration

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. FLEMING. I thank the gentleman from Iowa. I would like to state emphatically here this evening, Mr. Speaker, that I support the law of Arizona. Just as the gentleman said, it is really a mirror image of the United States law. I would say that those who are against the law who criticize it, some in our own government, do so for very interesting reasons. It is not really the law that they have such a problem with. It is the fact that we are enforcing a law that already exists. If that were not the case, then why, Mr. Speaker, do these people who are against this Arizona law, why don't they simply bring a bill to the floor and vote to repeal the existing American law. But that is not happening.

What we have had is a wink and a nod for many years, in which case we have a law on the books--I think it is a good law, it is not a perfect law--but a law that if we enforced it, we wouldn't have the problems that we have today. Let's just take a moment to understand why we have the problems that we have.

I lived in the San Diego, California, area some years ago, and it was very interesting. When you would leave San Diego and drive across the border into Tijuana, here we are, two cities that are so close together that they abut one another, and yet on one side of the border you have beautiful homes, million dollar homes. You have wonderful bridges and infrastructure. And then as you cross the border, you find poverty. You find dirt roads. You find people in some cases living in the streets.

So there is such a chasm between the standard of living below the border than above that border, no wonder people try to cross the border for opportunity. I can't blame them for doing that.

But the problem is that it's a cultural and political problem that exists in Mexico today. And so rather than pointing his finger at us, President Calderon should, I think, address the problems in his country, and that is the fact that they have a high level of corruption, a high level of poverty.

I do agree with the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King) that he is doing a much better job about the drug cartels and enforcing those laws than any President in modern times from Mexico, so I definitely tip my hat to him for that.

But there is also no middle class in Mexico today. And like many third world countries, it's mostly a poverty-driven country, where many people are desperate for work and desperate for opportunities. But on the other hand, there is 10 percent or so of the population that lives a wealthy lifestyle. But there's very few opportunities for upward mobility.

And let's just finally look at it. We're all descendents of immigrants at one point or another, and our ancestors came here because they were looking for opportunity. And we have many people around the world who come here looking for opportunity, and we have a way for them to do that.

I think it was the gentleman from California earlier that mentioned that 600-something thousand legal immigrants came to this country last year. So we have a way of doing that, although we, I think, could make it better. We could make it more efficient. But the truth is there is a legal way to immigrate to the United States, and we should make that available, and we do make that available.

On the other hand--and I welcome those immigrants. But on the other hand, those who come across our borders illegally, inappropriately, and who, in many ways, create danger for our own citizens, create problems for our own economy in terms of the need for education for their children and for health care, doing that illegally is not a solution to the problem. It may be a short-term solution for their immediate economic problems, but Mexico has got to address its own economic and cultural problems. And we, on the other hand, have got to take care of our borders, our sovereignty here.

And so, again, I would just reiterate that I do support Arizona's bold move, I think a necessary move, to protect their borders, to protect their economy. I believe it's Phoenix that is considered the kidnapping capital of at least the United States, if not the world. And who can blame the people of Arizona for doing for themselves what the Federal Government refuses to do, even though it has an obligation to do that?

And then, as the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) points out, and the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King) as well, we have the Attorney General sitting here today right in front of this body and having already admitted, confessed that he didn't read the law to begin with; and, after all, it's essentially the same law that he's agreed to uphold and defend as Attorney General, and somehow agreeing with the President from another country who says we should turn a blind eye to the illegal immigrants who are coming across the border.

So I would just say that I agree with the two gentlemen here tonight. It's time something is done. And I agree with the efforts of Arizona, and I do think other States are going to take this up as well and come up with similar laws.

And I think we here in the body of the U.S. Congress should also move forward with immigration reform, but not in the form of amnesty that we hear about from the other side, but a true reform where we can more efficiently allow people to come across the border to work here temporarily if there are jobs for them in a legal way, but make sure that they return when they're done; and, on the other hand, those who are here illegally return and never come back in an illegal status.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. FLEMING. I'd just like to expand on that point real quickly, and that is that we're moving rapidly in this country towards paying people not to work. So, obviously, that creates that vacuum that you're talking about where people from Mexico want to come across the border illegally to find jobs.

But what's very interesting about President Calderon is, as I understand it, that the rules for immigration into Mexico from its southern border are far more onerous than our own laws. In fact, ours are much more generous, and yet he's again criticizing us. That really makes no sense. It doesn't add up. It's hypocritical, of course.

So I think you're absolutely right, Mr. King, because not only should we make sure that the opportunities are there for our own citizens, but we should take away, I think, any incentives for people not to work when, in fact, they're fully able bodied to do so.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. FLEMING. I thank the gentleman. I won't need much time to close out my remarks, and that is that, again, the Federal Government has failed to do its job. It's failed to protect its citizens, it's failed to protect its borders, it's failed to protect its sovereignty. And we have a State, the State of Arizona, which has stepped up, very carefully crafted a law that mirrors that of the Federal Government that's not being enforced. They've stepped up to the plate and said this is costing us in terms of human lives, really. And in terms of other costs, financial and otherwise, we're better off to step forward and do something about this even though the Federal Government refuses to send troops or whatever protection we need to have.

So I think that that is the beauty of this Republic, and that is that each State has its own government and becomes a test tube for the entire Nation. It's going to be very interesting going forward to see what the results of this in Arizona are, and I think the results are going to be very good. And I think very soon we're going to see other States replicating this, and it will force the hand of the Federal Government to finally step up and do the right thing.

And with that, I yield back

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source