Date: 2012-11-30
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I thank the distinguished gentleman. I think the difference with my friends on the other side of the aisle is their lack of recollecting that America has always viewed immigration as good. In fact. I heard a very potent story this morning about the restoring of the Statue of Liberty that so many of us as children have had the opportunity to climb to the very top and be reminded of the welcoming of the huddled poor. Thats what this debate is all about. Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the chairman for yielding to me. and I just want to deviate for a moment in this time of economic tension just to remind people that tomorrow is World AIDS Day. I want to congratulate the Thomas Street clinic in my district and remind people that 25 million people have died since 1981. I just wanted to acknowledge those individuals as we begin this very important debate. We are respectful of immigrants. Even in the Democratic Caucus. and I would imagine in the Conferencemy good friend who is now managing had an immigrant history. Yesterday. we elected a son of immigrants to be the vice chair of the Democratic Caucus. He told a very potent story about his grandfather coming here to the United States of America. I can assure you that he did not come with massive degrees. but he built a foundation for his country and for his family. Now. I am very much in support of the STEM process and premise. which is to give opportunity to those who have studied in our universities. research institutions. Why wouldnt I? Having had children who have had the opportunity to attend some of the best institutions in this country. having had my children meet some of those very students. from Harvard to the University of North Carolina and Duke. I am well aware of the importance of this. But I would raise the question of whether or not we can judge the Diversity visas. where people have come from places like Bangladesh and Uzbekistan. Germany. Ethiopiaone of our strongest allies in AfricaLiberia. with an African woman as President. the first on that continent. South Africa. Or maybe we would choose to ignore our friends in Israel. where Diversity visas were received. or Albania. where we went to war to ensure the integrity and the saving of those people. or Hungary or Iceland or maybe our strong ally Turkey. Thats what Diversity visas represent. There is no reason to borrow from Peter to pay Paul. In fact. if my friends would really pay attention to the recent charge of the November 6 election. they would know that what America needs is comprehensive immigration reform. If I might. in this debate of deficit reduction and the need for increased revenue. we know that if you had comprehensive immigration reform over 10 years. you would introduce into the economy $1.5 trillion. Thats a reason to come to the floor right now and vote this bill down and start in the next week and put on the floor the bills that LuIs GUTIERREZ and myself and ZOE LOFGREN and JOHN CONYERS and many othersat one time. Senator MCCAIN wanted to put on the floor of the Senate and the House. My concern is that we tried to come in a bipartisan manner. I introduced legislationan amendment. ratherin the markup to say that lets study this issue of fraud with the Diversity visas. or lets assess what it is. because we have evidence that. in fact. the alleged fraud was because of a computer error. not the people who are applying. Mr. Speaker. 15 million have applied. Only 50.000 have been able to get the Diversity Visa. And of those. some of them are African immigrants. 50 percent of them. but they equal only 1 percent of the legal permanent residents. This whole question of terrorism just troubles me. I went to the Rules Committee in a spirit of bipartisanship to say. eliminate the provision on Diversity Visas. We can then support you. Keep the underlying premise of this legislation. I even asked that the rollover be extended because theres no evidence that you can get 55.000 in 4 years. If you are serious about creating jobsI am serious about creating jobs. My colleagues are serious about creating jobs. But I am disappointed that we would classify the Diversity Visa as bringing in neerdowells. people we dont want. Because I will tell you that America was built on the neerdowellsmaybe those of us who came as slaves or indentured servants. who came in the late 1800s with not any money in their pocket but who were determined to serve this Nation.