Date: 2006-07-11
Speaker: GARY G. MILLER (republican)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. thank you very much for yielding. I represent the 42nd Congressional District -in California. and for those of you who have not been to California. I do not truly believe you understand the concept of illegal immigration. When I hear my colleagues. and individuals I consider friends. they get up before us and say. a guest worker program is needed to fill those jobs that Americans will not do. I guess you have to define what are the jobs we are offering Americans. What wages are they offering Americans to work is probably the best question. The National Journal. in fact. did a study that I know determined in 1973 that the average manufacturing job in nonmanagerial service work paid about $15.24 an hour. At that time. you could get a job in construction. in manufacturing. most businesses. A man or woman could afford to own a home. send their kids to school. live a good. quality life and plan for the future. The problem was that in 2004. those jobs that in 1973 paid $15.24 an hour. paid $15.26 an hour. Talk to the individual who was a carpenter. who was a plumber. who poured concrete. who did masonry. who was honorably employed by a manufacturing company. that was paid good wages. and you saw this dramatic change start to occur during the recession in California of the 1990s. All of the sudden things were tighter. People started hiring individuals here in this country for a much lesser wage than the American citizen was willing to do that job for. A good example. I remember seeing drywallers being laid off and an illegal being hired. It is not that illegals are bad people. By and large. they are really good people. They are just trying to come here to better their lives. So it is not a matter of race or discrimination. It is just the fadt that can the United States accept all the poor that this world wants to send here? And if we decided to do that. why not accept them from India? Why not accept them from Asia? Why not accept them from anyplace in the world and double. triple. quadruple our population if we are just going to be benevolent and accept people who are poor and want to better their lives? But the problem you have. and this is back to the drywaller. then you see an illegal hanging dry wall and. his wife and kids are going behind him nailing the dry wall off to get the job done quicker so the husband could produce more at a much lesser rate than the American citizen was paid before. Now. how do you explain that to the American who was born here. who was educated here. who perhaps does not want to put a suit and tie on to go to work in the morning. who wants to work with his hands in that job that he is very capable of doing. but cannot afford to do for the reduced rate that an illegal is willing to work for? How do you tell that man he cannot support his family. educate his children and cannot afford a home anymore? In the National Journal. it is not me saying it. it is them saying it. that over 30 years later we are paying 2 cents per hour on average more than we were paying in 1993. I do not think Members of Congress who. as I say. get up and put a suit on in the morning and wear ties understand that people working for a living in this country are those who are most impacted by what we have done. We have to hold employers accountable. For an employer to say. well. I just do not know. well. that is unrealistic. because we have a pilot program today that any employer in this country can go verify whether that individual is a citizen or not. If you are unwilling to do that and you hire questionable employees that you know or you suspect are not here legally. you are violating the laws of this country. The sad thing is. the violation of that law is hurting American workers who would love to have that job. Are there some jobs in this country that I think we maybe need to look at? I think after we enforce the current laws that are on the books. or we pass new laws to stop illegal immigration. then let us look at the jobs that we do need to fill. I do not think there is an argument by many people that the agricultural industry. farmers. are probably going to need some labor. We have needed them historically since World War II. and before we had a program that took care of that. . So there are certain industries. whether it be landscaping. gardening. I do not know if we have got to have them for food services. but I think there are certain industries. where we are probably going to recognize that we do need some guest worker programs. But to come in with a concept. let us just have a guest worker program for anybody who wants to hire somebody at a wage an American citizen is not willing to work at is an absolutely unreasonable approach to a very real problem that is not getting better daily. We talk about an amnesty program. which is what I consider the Senate bill to be. Iii 1986. we allowed amnesty. and what did it get us? Nothing. It created more citizens of those who were here illegal. but we did nothing to enforce the law after we allowed amnesty for those that were here illegally. The American citizens. the people I represent. do not believe us anymore. and they do not believe us for good reason. What we told them that we were going to do in 1986 we did not do. I think we need to go pass a law today. a new law that is strict. enforceable and specific on what we are going to allow and not allow. We need to prove to the American people that we are going to send lawbreakers. back and we are going to hold employers accountable for hiring people that are. here illegally. Now. one argument that I hear repeatedly is. well. what are you going to do with all the people that came here illegally? They came here for a job. and if there is no job. they will go back home. The government does not need to provide buses. The government needs to remove the incentives that allow people to live here. There are many. We need to crack down on employers. number one. We need to prohibit access to credit and financial service. We need to prevent illegals from gaining access to food -stamps. lowincome housing and health care. I cannot go to Mexico and buy a house. They will not allow me to. Well. why should somebody come to this country. illegally. violating the laws of this country. and be eligible to do something that they will not allow us to do in their own country? Can you imagine going to Mexico and saying. I want a ballot printed in English? I want you to teach my children English in school? I want you to provide free health care at the emergency ward at the hospital for them? And I want you to allow me to stay here when you know I am staying in violation of your laws? If I go to Mexico illegally. they will arrest me. confiscate my assets and deport me immediately. Those who come here from those countries act like we are being abusive when they came from a country where they have. not in any way tolerated what we are told we have to tolerate here. Now. it does not amaze me that when we send a bill out of the House to stop this problem. that Mexico and South American countries would oppose it. Well. why would they not oppose it? It does not benefit their interests. Their interests are sending anybody to this country. helping them come to this country. provide information to them to come to this country so they can earn money and send it back to their home country. Well. that is wrong. This is the Congress of the United States of America. and this Congress should protect American citizens first. understanding that in South America and Mexico there are very good people. They are our neighbors. there is no argument about that. But if they want to come here. they should come here the same way I have gone to their country. and that is go there with a visa. go there with a passport. and when I am through. I come home. I cannot just overstay my welcome as long as I deem that I should be there. I have to come home or they will send me home. We welcome them into our country if they want to come on vacation. come to visit their families or come to do what they want to do. but at the given time. you go home and you* do not come here illegally to get a job thinking you are going to stay in violation of -the laws this country has placed upon the books. Now. we are either a country of laws or we are not a country of laws. and today. we do not enforce the laws of this country at all. This concept we have in the Senate bill of earned citizenship will absolutely bankrupt our social fabric in this country. We cannot spend $50 billion a year. as it is estimated. on those coming to this country who. once they become citizens. are eligible for every program on the social books that we have in this country. We cannot afford it. We should not tolerate it. Go to California and look at the impact on schools. I have talked to teachers who said they are holding this class back because the bulk of the student body in that class do not speak English. Now. yes. it is a benefit to those kids who are here illegally because they are being educated. but it is a tremendous detriment to the children of American citizens who are being held back because the rest of the class cannot speak English to be moved forward. 0j 1815 Go to an emergency ward in California. You will wait for hours. People go there that are illegal. cannot speak English. for a sprained ankle. for a headache. for a cold. for basic health care. That is not what an emergency ward is for. And who is paying the bill? The people who use the hospital. who are having to subsidize it because they are losing money treating illegals. We are a compassionate country. There.is no doubt about it. If someone is here and they have had an emergency and they need to go to the hospital. they should be treated. You should allow nobody to suffer. nobody to die. but you cannot tolerate 12 to 20 million people coming here with this concept that health care is free. because when they get it they do not have to pay it. Well. you cannot blame them for that. The people you can blame are the people in this room. for not making sure the laws passed by this Congress are enforced in this country. We can no longer tolerate it. Once again. they are good people that are trying to get here. by and large not bad people. But the American citizen cannot afford it. It is our responsibility. first of all. to protect and defend our borders. We are not doing it. And we should be concerned about the future of America and American citizens. Hopefully. when this debate continues and enough good people come here and talk about the impact on this country. we will fix the wrong that has occurred and make sure it does not happen again. Thank you.