ADDRESS OF SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY AT THE
NATIONAL CHAMBER
FOUNDATION AND U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
IMMIGRATION POLICY SEMINAR
December 5, 2001
For Immediate Release
Contact: Stephanie Cutter
(202)
224-2633
I'm honored to join the Chamber for this important event, and I commend
you and your distinguished guests for your commitment to the critical
issues of immigration reform.
Strengthening the security of our borders is an indispensable part of
our nation's effort to prevent future terrorist attacks. We need policies
and laws that genuinely meet the serious challenges we face on this vital
aspect of the battle. The need is urgent to improve our intelligence and
technology capabilities, provide greater resources to border personnel and
foreign service officers, and improve the monitoring of foreign nationals
already in the United States.
But in doing so - - in strengthening security at our borders - - we
must also safeguard the entry of the more than 31 million innocent and law
abiding persons who enter the U.S. legally each year as visitors,
students, and temporary workers, and the millions of others who cross our
borders from Canada and Mexico on a daily basis to conduct business or
visit family and friends.
And in protecting our country, we also must live up to our history and
heritage as a nation of immigrants. Continued immigration is a central
part of our national well-being, our identity as a nation, and our
strength in today's world. In defending America, we are also defending the
fundamental principles that have made America strong in the past and will
make us even stronger in the future.
That is why it is essential for our actions to strike a careful balance
between protecting civil liberties and providing the means for law
enforcement to identify, apprehend and detain potential terrorists. It
makes no sense to enact reforms that severely limit immigration into the
United States. "Fortress America," even if it could be achieved, is an
inadequate and ineffective response to the terrorist threat.
The anti-terrorism legislation enacted in October was an important part
of the effort to improve immigration security, but further action is
needed.
Last week, I introduced bipartisan legislation with my colleagues Sam
Brownback, Dianne Feinstein, John Kyl, and others to strengthen our
immigration laws in ways that achieve these many important goals.
Additional law enforcement officers at ports of entry are a key part of
the battle against terrorism, and we must provide them with greater
resources, training, and technology. These men and women have a
significant role in the battle against terrorism. We must ensure that they
receive adequate pay, can hire necessary personnel, are well-trained to
identify individuals who pose a security threat, have access to important
intelligence information, and have the technologies they need to enhance
border security and facilitate cross-border commerce.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service must be able to retain
highly skilled inspectors, and they deserve the same benefits as other law
enforcement personnel.
The war on terrorism is, in large part, a war of information. Clearly,
the screening of foreign nationals who seek entry into the United States
must be improved. To do so, we must make better use of intelligence
information to identify high risk individuals who are potential
terrorists, and make sure that the information is in the hands of the
proper officials in time to act. Accurate and timely intelligence is
critical. Our intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies must be
able to share critical information with the Department of State and the
INS as quickly as possible.
Our proposal will require the President to submit and implement a plan
to improve access to critical security information. It will create a new
data system to give those responsible for screening visa applicants and
persons entering the U.S. the tools they need to make informed decisions.
And it provides temporary steps until the President's plan is fully
implemented.
Weaknesses clearly exist in the current lookout procedures. Potential
terrorists often use aliases and false or stolen identification. Biometric
identification technology can be used to improve the reliability of
lookout measures and enhance border security. Our proposal authorizes the
funding needed to bring ports of entry into the modern age and equip them
with biometric data readers and scanners.
The anti-terrorism legislation passed by the Senate in October
addressed the need for machine-readable passports, but it did not focus on
the need for machine-readable visas. Our plan enables the State Department
to raise fees for this purpose and use the funds to improve technology at
our ports of entry.
We must also strengthen our ability to monitor foreign nationals in the
United States. In 1996, Congress enacted a law mandating the development
of an automated entry/exit control system to record the entry of every
non-citizen arriving in the U.S., and to match it with the record of
departure. Although effective technology is available for such a system,
it has not been put in place because of the high costs involved. Our plan
provides greater direction and additional funds to the INS to implement
the full system. It also encourages the Administration to use technologies
that facilitate the cross-border movement of persons and commerce without
compromising the safety and security of the United States.
We must also improve the ability of foreign service officers to detect
and intercept potential terrorists before they arrive in the United
States. Most foreign nationals who travel here must apply for visas at
American consulates overseas. Traditionally, consular officers have
concentrated on interviewing applicants to decide whether they are likely
to violate their visa status. Although this review is important, consular
officers must also be trained specifically to look for security threats.
There is a current Visa Waiver Program, that allows individuals from
participating countries to enter the United States for a limited period
without visas. That program strengthens relations between the United
States and other countries, and encourages economic growth. Given it's
importance, we must safeguard its continued use, while also ensuring that
a country's participation in the waivers does not undermine.
We must also improve our ability to screen individuals along the entire
North American perimeter. That means close coordination with Canada and
Mexico to enhance the security of all three countries. The goal is for
each country to evaluate and upgrade their current systems, and adjust
visa requirements to take into account each other's security concerns. We
also need to cooperate more closely with our European allies and other
nations, and share that information that each of our intelligence services
collects.
Airline and airport security is part of the challenges too. Our plan
requires all airlines to transmit passenger lists electronically to
destination airports in the United States – so that once planes have
landed, law enforcement authorities can intercept passengers who are on
federal lookout lists.
When planes land at our airports today, inspectors are under
significant time constraints to clear the planes to accommodate all
departing passengers. Our legislation will repeal the current 45 minute
deadline, but require the INS to staff ports of entry at levels adequate
to meet passenger flows and inspection objectives, without compromising
safety and security.
More effective tracking of visas after they arrive is also very
important. In 1996, Congress enacted legislation to collect information on
foreign students and participants in exchange programs. Although a pilot
phase ended in 1999, a permanent reform has not yet been implemented. Our
legislation gives greater direction to this program and provides for
greater communication between the INS, the State Department, and colleges
and other institutions admitting foreign students. In fact, 26,000
educational institutions are authorized today to enroll foreign students.
If they fail to comply with reporting requirements, they should lose their
ability to admit such students.
Obviously, the vast majority of foreign visitors, students, and workers
who overstay their visas are not criminals or terrorists. It would be
wrong and unfair, without additional information, to stigmatize any of
them. We know how to enhance our security in ways that reaffirm our
immigrant tradition and history. America is strong and will remain so. Our
diversity is a principal source of our strength as a nation and our
leadership in the world, and it always will be.
As we respond to all of their complex and pressing security concerns,
we cannot lose sight of the many other issues on our overall immigration
agenda that have been temporarily placed on hold. They're still a
priority, and Congress must move forward on them once we've dealt fully
and effectively with the security threats.
Our immigration policies should reflect the core values of family
unity, economic opportunity, and fundamental fairness. Today many
industries, particularly the agricultural, retail, and service sectors,
depend overwhelmingly on immigrant labor. These workers enrich our nation
and improve the quality of our lives. Yet, many of them are undocumented.
They live in constant fear of deportation and are easy targets of abuse
and exploitation by unscrupulous employers. Often, seeking to work
temporarily in the U.S., they risk danger and even death, to cross our
borders.
The status quo is not acceptable. We need reforms that provide a
manageable and orderly system where legality is the prevailing rule. On
September 7th, I chaired a hearing on U.S.-Mexico migration discussions.
The range of witnesses at that hearing, including labor and business,
conservatives and liberals, faith-based groups and secular groups,
demonstrated the broad support that exists for fair and balanced
immigration measures. The highlight of the hearing was seeing Tom Donohue
and John Sweeney sitting together on the same panel and testifying in
favor of the same issue – to achieve lasting and long-overdue immigration
reforms that will benefit immigrant workers and their families, and
employers as well.
Family unity is an important priority too. It has always been a
fundamental cornerstone of America's immigration policy. Yet millions of
deserving individuals are waiting for immigrant visas in order to reunite
with their families. Over 1 million of these applicants are the spouses
and children of permanent residents, who have endured years of painful and
needless separation. Millions more are waiting for action on applications
for employment visas. Working out an effective solution to the family and
employment visa backlogs should be a major part of any reform proposal.
In particular, we should enable persons who are eligible for green
cards to adjust their status while remaining here in the United States,
rather than have to return to their country of origin to do so. The Senate
enacted legislation months ago to address this problem, and it's long past
time for the House to do the same.
In addition, we should also develop an effective temporary worker
program to allow migrants to work temporarily in the United States. Any
such program should also benefit migrants who have recently arrived, and
it clearly must be designed in a way that avoids the troubling legacy of
exploitation and abuse under past guest-worker programs.
Finally, it is also essential to reform the Immigration and
Naturalization Service. The INS has long been plagued with problems caused
by the agency's dual mission of enforcing the law and implementing its
many other responsibilities, including high fees, long backlogs, and
unresponsive service.
I commend the Administration for its recent plan to separate of the
enforcement and service functions, while preserving strong overall
leadership needed to ensure uniformity and decisive action in a crisis.
It's the right step and it's long overdue.
In sum, as I have said, the recent terrorist attacks have provided a
clear wake-up call about the need to protect our borders, and Congress and
the Administration are working closely and will work together cross party
lines to meet this immediate challenge. I intend to do all I can to see
that our response is effective - - and to guarantee as well that our other
long-run immigration challenges are met effectively too. I look forward to
working with all of you to achieve these lasting goals.
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