Dianne Feinstein

Mrs. FEINSTEIN

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I want to have an opportunity to speak on the bill. I know then Senator Hutchison will offer her amendment, and I will have an opportunity at that time, hopefully, to speak against the amendment. Mr. President, there has been one inescapable truth in all of this. Year after year----

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Reserving the right to object, Mr. President, but before I do, I wish to respond. This is not a new bill, this so-called 700 pages. These are amendments packaged together which are subsequently divided. These are amendments which have been around for a substantial period of time. It is true some of them have been modified. Senator Hutchison is modifying her amendment. However, we have had an opportunity to know that and see it and can speak to it. So I object.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Reserving the right to object, is the Chair saying I will not be able to have time to speak against the amendment?

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Through the Chair to the Senator from Massachusetts, that is absolutely true. We will have a continuation of what is, in effect, a silent amnesty.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Through the Chair to the Senator from Massachusetts, there is no question about it.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I certainly will.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. For the 14 years I have served on the Immigration Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee, I have become more and more convinced that what we have is a broken system. To me, the word ``comprehensive'' means fixing a broken system. The system is broken in many different directions. In one direction, every year, year in, year out, 700,000 to 800,000 people cross the border looking for hope, opportunity, work, or to reunite with family. They come into this country in an illegal status, and they disappear. There is a portion of our economy that welcomes immigrant labor. They are able to find work. They are able to hide. They are able to falsify documents. I have personally gone to Alvarado Street in Los Angeles and seen where, in 20 minutes, you can obtain a green card, a driver's license, a Social Security card. You cannot tell the difference between a real and a fraudulent document. The border is broken in that we cannot protect it. Secondly, it is estimated that 40 percent of the people here illegally are visa overstays. Some go back after awhile. Some never go back. What does this constitute? It constitutes a silent amnesty because these people exist in America. They are able to work in America. Most are never found by authorities. Those who are found are similar to the Munoz family in San Diego. A few weeks ago, a mother and a father were deported in the middle of the night. They have three American children, the oldest of which is 16. They own their home. They both work. They own their furniture. In the middle of the night, Immigration Naturalization Service comes in, picks up the parents and deports them. This is an actual case--the house is gone, the furniture is gone, the three children are living with an aunt in San Diego. Why? Because they could be found, or because perhaps somebody reported them, but they could be found. But the dominant number of people here illegally cannot be found. What this bill tries to do is fix the broken border. We fix it with infrastructure. We say this new infrastructure, whether it is UAVs or vehicle barriers or fencing, has to be in place before anything else is done. The bill mandates $4.4 billion upfront in spending for border enforcement. This money will be used to carry out the enforcement triggers. That is one part of the fix. A second part of the fix----

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Objection.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Objection.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Objection.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I object.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, if I may respond to the Senator, it is my understanding that is correct; that following the majority leader, then I will have 5 minutes to respond to Senator Hutchison and then she will have 5 minutes to respond to me.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I thank the Chair.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I wish to clarify where we are right now. It is my understanding in the unanimous consent agreement with respect to morning business that the next 15 minutes belongs to the Republican side; that Senator DeMint has 10 minutes reserved of that time, and then the remaining 5 minutes of that time can be accorded however the Republican side wishes to do; and that the majority leader is coming back on the floor at 11:30 a.m.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. After Senator Reid.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I see. After 11:30, I would be able to speak against the amendment.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, there is no question that that is the case, certainly, in California. We have the largest number of undocumented immigrants, people estimated at between 2 million and 3 million. California is an expanding economy. When you get your gas filled in your tank, when you are served a meal in a restaurant, when you look at who is doing the dishes, the person who is changing the beds in the hotel where you stay, who transports patients in the hospital, who does landscaping in the gardens, sweeping the streets, picking the crops, pruning the crops, working in the canning factories that dot our State, you see people who are among those 2 million or 3 million people. No question about it.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I would be happy to. Through the Chair to the Senator from Massachusetts, he is dead right. This is $55 billion where the people affected by the bill pay for the costs. That is a big thing: $55 billion will flow to do what needs to be done, whether it is the biometric cards, whether it is the US-VISIT Program, whether it is the infrastructure at the border, whether it is the 5,000 additional Border Patrol; whatever it is in the bill, the fines are very heavy in this bill. Many people--and a reason why much of the immigrant community has become concerned about the bill--is because of the size of the fines. Nonetheless, we can make the argument that this bill will pay for itself, by and large. The fines are stiff to do that.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. That is correct.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Certainly. I would be happy to.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. The Senator from Massachusetts is absolutely correct. This bill has three huge chapters called titles that are devoted to enforcement. It is extraordinarily important, and it isn't going to get done if this bill doesn't pass. Now, in addition to that, it says--because there is no way to find and deport these individuals because they live in the shadows and because an overwhelming number of them live a life of hard work and want to continue to work and want some hope and opportunity for their family--that if they go through an extensive process--not an easy process, not a process of amnesty in any way, shape or form--as a matter of fact, they feel the process may be too tough because they must go through an extensive period of paying fines. For one person, the fines amount to $8,500 over the first 8 years. They must learn English. They must show work documents. They must do this periodically. They must pay taxes. They must show documents that they have paid taxes. This is not a pushover by a long shot. If they can comply with this, they receive something called a Z visa. That Z visa eventually, between 8 and 13 years into the future, will enable them, after everyone now in the green card line--after that green card line is expunged--to get a green card. It is hard. There are many hoops they will jump through. The fines are heavy. But they say they will do it. The dominant majority say they will do it. That means they will be documented. That means the national security problem will end. Additionally, we are requiring US-VISIT to track people leaving our country so we will know if somebody who is here on a visa actually leaves the country when their visa expires. There is a penalty. If they come back illegally, they will be held and do some jail time prior to deportation. The bottom line is this bill also incorporates two other bills. One is a bill that has been negotiated between farmers and growers and organizations representing farm labor, such as the United Farm Workers, over a substantial period of time. The reason for this portion of the bill is because agriculture in America is dominantly--perhaps 90 percent--undocumented illegal workers. The reason it is that way is because American workers will not do the job. I know that in California because we have tried over the years to get American workers to do these jobs. One day I went out to the Salinas Valley, and I watched row crops being picked. What I saw was the degree to which this is stooped labor in the hot Sun but with a skill. These people bring a skill. Agriculture workers have a skill: the way they pick, the way they sort, the way they pack, the way they prune. If you watch them, you see they go from crop to crop. They are not American citizens. They come from other countries. They are the labor that puts our food on the table in the United States of America. What this bill does is incorporate a closely negotiated bill called AgJOBS, which would allow these workers to become documented and, at the end of 8 years, if they carry out their requirements to continue their agricultural work for an additional number of years, they are then eligible to be first in this line for a green card. The final part of the bill is the DREAM Act, which recognizes that children, for example, such as the three Munoz children, or other children who are brought here illegally and go to school and earn a degree in college or serve in our military, can earn a green card. So the bill is a compromise bill as well. People on the other side of the aisle wanted certain things in this bill. People on our side of the aisle wanted certain things in this bill. It was negotiated and the bill was put together. Is the bill a perfect bill? No. Is it a good bill? I absolutely believe that it is. I absolutely believe this Nation will be better off with this bill. Will the Judiciary Committee have to practice oversight? We have Senator Kennedy, we have the Presiding Officer, and members of the Judiciary Committee. I believe very strongly what we should do is have bimonthly hearings, oversight hearings into the operation and mechanics of the bill, so that as the bill is carried out, if there are tweaks that need to be made, we can make them. But to fail, at this point in time, is to continue this situation where 12 million remain unidentified, where they pose a serious risk to national security, where 700,000 to 800,000 people will enter our country illegally or overstay their visas over 10 years, with 7 million to 8 million additional people here in undocumented capacity, where 400 to 500 people die every year trying to cross the Mexican border, and where 4 million people will continue to wait for a green card. We take these problems and we try to solve them in this bill. Now, people who are opposed to the bill say: I don't like this. I am going to vote against the bill. I don't like that. I am going to vote against the bill. Yes, they can do that. Yes, they are entitled to do it, but know what you are doing when you do it. There will be no $4.4 billion to enforce the border. There will be no additional Border Patrol. There will be no electronic verification. There will be no biometric documents, and the flow and the silent amnesty will, in fact, continue. This is our chance. We should not squander it.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I will.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. That is absolutely true. We have no idea who is in this country and who comes into this country illegally. We have no idea who is in this country overstaying their visas. These are the 12 million people who remain unidentified. This is what we are trying to do: First, fix the border as it has never been fixed before. Second, hire the additional Border Patrol, bringing the total number of agents up to 20,000. Third, fix interior enforcement. Fourth, provide for employer verification documents. No more fraudulent documents. Everybody will have biometric documents to be able to prove they are, in fact, who they are. One of the big problems is in a category called OTMs, ``Other Than Mexicans,'' coming across the border. Because it is so easy to come in, more and more people from other countries are going to Mexico first and coming up through that border, particularly countries from the Middle East. This represents a serious national security issue.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Objection.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I worked with the Senator from Texas, now, 10 years up close. I do not like to oppose her amendment, but in this case I believe I must. This is an issue we debated in many conversations during the process of drafting this legislation. I was opposed to the touchback idea and I am skeptical about it now. However, in the spirit of compromise, we went forward with the touchback that we have in the base bill, specifically in title VI. We included some important safeguards to make sure it is workable. This amendment from the distinguished Senator from Texas actually does away with this by creating a touchback requirement before people get their full Z visa. What immigrant is going to show up and register for a program if he has to take his chances on leaving the country and coming back in before he gets some kind of immigration status? What immigrant is going to report to deport? I wager that many, if not most, will simply stay underground and try to keep their heads down for as long as possible. They have built lives here, they have families, they own homes, and they have jobs they want to keep. Very few undocumented immigrants are going to show up for a program that offers no certainty they will actually be able to legalize their status. What this amendment does is essentially front load the requirement that makes the program unworkable from both an agency and an applicant perspective. Requiring consular officers to steal themselves for a flood of applications, 8 to 10 years down the line, is one thing. Requiring them to gear up for adjudication of this in-person application in the next 2 years following registration is a very different story. I hope the body will defeat the amendment. Those of us--Senator Craig and I and others--who have worked on the AgJOBS program believe that the agriculture jobs program is the way to go. It is negotiated by farmers, by unions, by growers, and it has a specific requirement. I know the Senator does not touch this specific requirement, but the main problem with the amendment is requiring this touchback so soon, before people have acquired any kind of legal status. They register and then in 2 years, they would have to go and perform this touchback. We believe it strikes at the heart of the bill and urge a ``no'' vote. I yield the floor.