Kennedy on '86 Amnesty

Press Release

Kennedy on '86 Amnesty

"This amnesty will give citizenship to only 1.1-1.3 million illegal aliens. We will secure the borders henceforth. We well never again bring forward another Amnesty Bill like this."

- Senator Ted Kennedy, referring to the 1986 Amnesty Bill, which actually granted amnesty to millions more illegal immigrants that Kennedy predicted.

Rep. Weldon posted the following release after Senator Kennedy and President Bush announced their recent agreement to give 12 million illegal aliens immediate amnesty:

"It's rarely a good thing when Senator Kennedy and President Bush get together and talk shop. First they give us No Child Left Behind. Now they propose No Illegal Immigrant Left Behind.

"Amnesty First, Border Security Later, American Citizens Last - that's the bottom line of this proposal. It defies what the American people have been demanding from Washington and it makes a mockery of the American dream.

"First, this bill grants immediate legal status to 12 million illegal immigrants - 60% of whom are high school dropouts and all of whom have broken our immigration laws. They would be allowed to buy U.S. citizenship for a $5,000 fee. By authorizing another 400,000 worker visas per year, the bill ignores the fact that half of the illegal immigrants in the U.S. today simply overstayed their visa. This bill builds on that failure by exacerbating the problem.

"Before Congress spends one minute of debate on this 380-page amnesty bill, we should secure our borders. Period.

"But amnesty and border insecurity are just the beginning of this bad bill. If enacted into law, this deal will mark the single largest expansion of the welfare state in our nation's history. It's estimated that an amnesty of the magnitude being proposed for over 12 million low-wage, low-skilled workers would place at least a $2 trillion burden on Social Security and Medicare, greatly jeopardizing the solvency of these programs.

"Last year, a similar immigration bill was proposed by the Senate. Only the will of the Republican majority in the House kept it from becoming law. This year, with the new Democratic majority, I fear the result will be quite different. I remain opposed to this new Senate bill. I believe the American people and the hardworking immigrants who play by the rules deserve better."

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