WASHINGTON, DC— In a major address Wednesday, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), the Chairman of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee, [[[declare]]]that he remains optimistic that comprehensive immigration reform can be enacted as soon as this year and outlined seven principles he said would guide legislation he intends to introduce in the Senate later this year. Speaking one day before the White House convenes a summit of key lawmakers on the topic, Schumer said that the first priority in crafting legislation is making a serious stand against illegal immigration, and suggested that a biometric-based employer verification system would be a key element as well.“When the President asks me whether we can pass comprehensive immigration reform this Congress, I will smile and say, “Mr. President, yes we can. All of the fundamental building blocks are in place to pass comprehensive immigration reform this session and, even possibly, later this year,’” Schumer said in remarks made at the Migration Policy Institute’s conference at Georgetown University.“I have no doubt that President Obama has an unyielding commitment to achieving comprehensive immigration reform. And I truly believe that his leadership will be the critical difference in getting us over the hump this time around,” Schumer added.In all, Schumer announced seven principles that he said would form the basis for the legislation he intends to introduce by the fall Illegal immigration is wrong, and a primary goal of comprehensive immigration reform must be to dramatically curtail future illegal immigration.2. Operational control of our borders--through significant additional increases in infrastructure, technology, and border personnel--must be achieved within a year of enactment of legislation.3. A biometric-based employer verification system—with tough enforcement and auditing—is necessary to significantly diminish the job magnet that attracts illegal aliens to the United States and to provide certainty and simplicity for employers. 4. All illegal aliens present in the United States on the date of enactment of our bill must quickly register their presence with the United States Government—and submit to a rigorous process of converting to legal status and earning a path to citizenship—or face imminent deportation.5.Family reunification is a cornerstone value of our immigration system. By dramatically reducing illegal immigration, we can create more room for both family immigration and employment-based immigration.6.We must encourage the world’s best and brightest individuals to come to the United States and create the new technologies and businesses that will employ countless American workers, but must discourage businesses from using our immigration laws as a means to obtain temporary and less-expensive foreign labor to replace capable American workers; and finally 7.We must create a system that converts the current flow of unskilled illegal immigrants into the United States into a more manageable and controlled flow of legal immigrants who can be absorbed by our economy.Schumer said he would emphasize these principles when he makes the case for comprehensive immigration reform at the White House meeting tomorrow. A copy of Schumer’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, appears below.Remarks by U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer 6th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference Migration Policy Institute June 24, 2009 Good morning everyone. I’d like to begin by thanking my dear friend, Doris Meissner, for inviting me to share my thoughts with you today regarding the prospects for achieving comprehensive immigration reform in 2009, and to outline the main principles that will be part of the legislation that will be introduced later this year.Doris was a great public servant for many years at the agency that was then known as INS, and it is no surprise to me that she continues to serve her country through her cutting edge research and publications at the Migration Policy Institute. Her research has made, and will continue to make, enormous contributions to the immigration policy conversations we are having in CongressWhen Doris invited me to speak to you, I did not know I would be delivering my remarks the day before the White House’s Summit on Immigration Reform. And while I can imagine that many of you would have preferred that this speech occur the day after the summit rather than the day before—in hopes that I could tell you what transpired—I can tell you that there is no better time for this speech than today.Today, I want to share with you the core of what I will tell the President tomorrow during our meeting.And the very first thing I will tell the President is something that I think will sound familiar. When the President asks me whether Congress can pass comprehensive immigration reform this Congress, I will smile and say, “Mr. President, yes we can. All of the fundamental building blocks are in place to pass comprehensive immigration reform this session and, even possibly, later this year.”For the past several weeks, pundits, columnists, and reporters have almost all been saying that the prospects for comprehensive immigration reform look bleak. They say that immigration reform is an uphill battle, that there are not enough votes in Congress for reform, and that the situation is altogether dark. But to all of these naysayers, and to all of the people who are so desperately looking to their Government for leadership on this critically important issue, I say this—it is darkest just before the dawn, and I promise you, we’ve been through the darkness and a new day is dawning. First of all, I have no doubt that President Obama has an unyielding commitment to achieving comprehensive immigration reform. And I truly believe that his leadership will be the critical difference in getting us over the hump this time around. And I also want to take this opportunity to recognize the remarkable leadership that my predecessor—Senator Kennedy—provided to the immigration subcommittee for the last 46 years. He served with great distinction and was at the center of all of the critical immigration debates of our time. His leadership will truly be missed, and no one can fill his shoes.When Senator Kennedy relinquished his post as Chairman of the Immigration Subcommittee, I had to ask myself whether I truly believed we could accomplish immigration reform, or whether leading this subcommittee would be tantamount to embarking upon a fool’s errand. At the time I made the decision to take over the immigration subcommittee, there were several other Committees I could have chosen to chair instead—any of which would have presented an opportunity to make large changes for both New York and for America. If I did not believe we could accomplish immigration reform this year, I would never have chosen to accept the immigration subcommittee post. Committees of inaction and legislative backwaters are not places in which I thrive.And since the day I became Chairman of the Immigration Subcommittee, I have worked hard each day to achieve immediate positive results while never losing sight of the larger goal of building consensus for comprehensive immigration reform.As an example, I do not believe that a bipartisan immigration bill can be enacted if my colleagues on the other side of the aisle do not believe that Democrats are serious about enforcement. For this reason, I recently helped demonstrate this commitment by working with Attorney General Holder and Secretary Napolitano to ensure that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has the necessary Title 21 authority to perform investigations and make arrests in order to assist our Government’s comprehensive efforts against the violent drug, weapons, and human smuggling cartels on our border.
http://schumer.senate.gov/new_website/record.cfm?id=314990
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