July 10, 2013
Mr. Speaker:
America
is a nation of immigrants. We are all either immigrants ourselves or
we are the sons and daughters of immigrants. America’s motto is “E
Pluribus Unum” – from many, ONE. From many nations we have created one
great nation – the American nation.
There is only one way to accomplish this remarkable feat and that is through the process of assimilation.
Unlike other nations, our immigration laws were not written to
keep people out – they were written to assure that those who come here
demonstrate a sincere desire to become Americans -- to acquire a common
language, a common culture, and a common appreciation of American
Constitutional principles and American legal traditions.
Illegal immigration undermines the process of legal immigration
that makes our nation of immigrants possible. If we allow illegal
immigration, then legal immigration becomes pointless, the process of
assimilation that our immigration laws assure breaks down, and the bonds
of allegiance that hold a country like ours together begin to dissolve.
As
a recent article by John Fonte of National Review points out, earlier
immigration reform bills included a provision calling for (quote)
“patriotic integration of prospective citizens into the American way of
life by providing civics, history, and English . . . with a special
emphasis on attachment to the principles of the Constitution of the
United States, the heroes of American history and the meaning of the
Oath of Allegiance.”
The
Director of Immigration policy for La Raza objected to this language,
writing that (quote) “while it doesn’t overtly mention assimilation, it
is very strong on the patriotism and traditional american [sic] values
language in a way which is potentially dangerous to our communities.”
This
language is pointedly missing from the Senate measure, suggesting a
purpose fundamentally different from past immigration laws. It raises
the question of why the groups behind this bill find the mention of
assimilation objectionable and consider patriotism and traditional
American values not only disagreeable but, in their word, “dangerous.”
To those who say that we need a path to citizenship, I must point out
that we already have such a path that is followed by millions of legal
immigrants who have obeyed all of our laws, who have respected our
nation’s sovereignty, who have done everything our country has asked of
them to do – including waiting patiently in line – and are now watching
millions of illegal immigrants cut in line in front of them.
The
1986 Immigration Reform Act promised a “balanced approach” that
combined legalization of the three million illegal immigrants then in
the country with promises of employer sanctions and tougher border
security. As we all know, legalization occurred instantly – but the
promises of enforcement were first ignored and later actively resisted
by the Presidents who followed.
The
current administration, for all its rhetoric, has unlawfully suspended
enforcement of our existing immigration laws and actively obstructed
states from assisting in their enforcement. If this administration will
not enforce our existing law, why should anyone believe its promises to
enforce even stricter laws in the future?
A
common tactic of those on the Left is to blur the distinction between
legal and illegal immigration and to paint those in opposition to
amnesty as “anti-immigrant.” This is simply dishonest.
Legal
immigration is the very essence of our country – it sets us apart from
every other nation in the world – the fact that citizenship is open to
all who evince a sincere desire to understand, adopt and revere those
uniquely American principles enshrined in our Declaration of
Independence and animated by our American Constitution. They do so by
the thousands – every day – by obeying our immigration laws, renouncing
foreign loyalties, and embracing American principles. By
doing so, as Lincoln said, they become the “blood of the blood and the
flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote that Declaration.”
Illegal
immigration destroys all of that – and any measure that encourages more
of it by granting special privileges to those who defy our immigration
laws is a direct affront to every legal immigrant who has become an
American and it is a direct challenge to the process of immigration that
built our nation.
To
those illegal immigrants who seek citizenship out of a sincere desire
to become Americans, I ask them to respect our laws and I invite them to
begin the process of legal immigration that is already available to
them and has been followed by the millions who have come before them.