Immigration Control

Sen. Jeff Sessions Explains His Opposition to Final Passage of the Senate Immigration Bill
Thursday, May 25, 2006

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) today announced his intention to vote against final passage of the immigration bill. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sessions will serve on the conference committee that will try to reconcile the separately passed Senate and House immigration bills.

“The American people were counting on us to secure our borders and restore the rule of law to our immigration system,” Sessions said. “Unfortunately, the United States Senate today let the American people down by passing a deeply flawed bill that gives the illegal alien population every benefit this nation can bestow, and increases future legal immigration levels by three to five times the current level. Additionally, the immigration levels for the future ensure that 70 percent of the large influx will be admitted without having to meet any educational, skill or language requirements.”

According to Sessions, the fatal flaws are numerous:

• Border Security: Although I was glad the Senate approved my amendment to increase the amount of fencing and vehicle barriers along our southwest border, the border is not secured by this bill. The border security and immigration enforcement provisions will have to be paid for in the future, not just authorized by this bill. An “enforcement trigger” amendment, which I voted for, but which failed to pass, was needed to ensure that the American people are not promised immigration enforcement that is never delivered.

• Workplace Enforcement: Workplace enforcement is an integral component of effective immigration enforcement. Today, no mandatory workplace verification system exists, and employers know they can get away with hiring illegal workers. This must end. The provisions in the bill that attempt to address the problems in the workplace are deficient and will not work.

• Amnesty: If amnesty means anything, it means giving illegal aliens every benefit that legal immigrants receive. Under the bill, a vast majority of the illegal alien population will be given every benefit our nation can bestow on its citizens, including participation in the Social Security System based on their illegal work histories.

• Temporary Worker Program is Not Temporary: Though it has been sold as a ‘temporary guest worker program’ there is nothing ‘temporary’ about the new guest worker program created by this bill. Almost every new ‘temporary guest worker’ who comes in the future will be eligible for legal permanent resident status (a green card) and put on the path to citizenship.

• Future Immigration Levels: The bill increases future legal immigration at least three times the current level. Instead of 18.9 million people coming in the next 20 years, more than 66 million people will immigrate over the same time period. That number is too high.

• The Needs of the United States: The bill does nothing to ensure that our nation’s future immigration policy reflects our country’s needs. Developed nations have reformed their immigration policies to prioritize high-skilled immigration over large scale low-skilled and extended family chain migration. This bill prioritizes low-skilled and chain migration over skill-based immigration, an approach we should reject.

• Fiscal Impact: No official study has been conducted on the huge adverse financial impact this bill will create in the out years. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill will increase direct spending by $54 billion and discretionary spending by $64 billion in just the first 10 years. The Heritage Foundation projects the bill will increase long-term federal spending by at least $50 billion a year. These are staggering numbers that indicate that this bill might have costs as great as half a trillion dollars in any future 10-year period. This bill is a huge, monumental budget buster.