Bill Clinton 1996 On The Issues
Immigration
"What we need to do is
to have a sensible approach to immigration. It needs to be open. It needs to
be nondogmatic and nonbigoted. We need to be firm but reasonable in the way we
deal with the problem of illegal immigration. And we need to try to get as
many of our immigrants who want to do so to become citizens as quickly as
possible so that the American people will all see that this is a part of the
process of American history which, is a good one for our country.”
—President Bill Clinton
President Clinton has a
comprehensive and effective strategy to combat illegal
immigration—including strengthening border control, safeguarding
the interests of legal workers through increased enforcement of employer
sanctions and worksite standards, and removing criminal and other illegal
aliens. The President also supports a legal immigration policy that is
pro-family and pro-work by making naturalization easier for those eligible for
citizenship. In addition, the Administration will continue to protect those
who fear persecution in their homeland.
The President is working to reform immigration policies by:
Illegal Immigration
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Deploying more Border Patrol agents than any previous
Administration. The Administration has increased the number of Border
Patrol agents at the southwest border by 40% since 1993. The Clinton
Administration is deploying an additional 1,000 agents and over 550
inspectors at the southwest border. We are also strengthening
anti-smuggling efforts to reduce the criminal transport and
exploitation of illegal aliens. |
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Strengthening enforcement of sanctions against employers
that hire illegal immigrants. President Clinton also issued an
Executive Order to keep federal contracts from going to businesses
that knowingly hire illegal workers. |
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Removing a record 51,600 criminal and other illegal aliens
from this country in 1995 alone. |
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Reimbursing states for a share of the costs of
incarcerating criminal aliens and assisting with education and medical
care costs. The Clinton Administration is the first Administration to
implement a comprehensive strategy from the border to the workplace to
control illegal immigration and reduce the cost of illegal immigration
to the states. | Legal Immigration
and Naturalization
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Making citizenship a reality for more people. Nearly
500,000 new citizens were sworn in during the last fiscal
year. |
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Increasing the Immigration and Naturalization Service
(INS) budget by 72%. The Administration’s total INS budget for this
fiscal year is $2.6 billion. |
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Presenting a plan that would lower the overall number of
legal immigrants, while preserving family reunification and
strengthening protections for U.S. workers. |
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Implementing “Citizenship USA” to respond to the
increase in citizenship applications this past year. Over one million
new applications were received last year. This year, INS is increasing
its staff to ensure quick processing of immigration applications and
to forge better partnerships with community organizations that provide
more information to
applicants. |
Building on Our Progress
President Clinton will continue to implement his comprehensive strategy to
reduce illegal immigration and foster legal immigration and naturalization by:
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Continuing to increase border personnel and technology to
curtail illegal crossings and smuggling. |
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Vigorously enforcing worksite laws against employers who
knowingly hire illegal aliens. |
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Ensuring that American jobs are made available for legal
workers. |
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Testing effective, nondiscriminatory means of verifying
the employment authorization of new employees. |
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Reforming and streamlining deportation procedures and
seeking enhanced exclusion authority. |
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Increasing deportation levels 25% this year and another
50% next year. |
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Requiring families to take financial responsibility for
immigrants they sponsor. |
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Expanding efforts to help legal immigrants become
citizens, achieve and maintain self-sufficiency, and participate and
contribute fully as members of our national community. The
Administration’s naturalization goal this year is to swear in over one
million new citizens. |
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Fighting against discrimination that denies opportunity to
legal immigrants. |
Source: Bill Clinton for President 1996 Web Site |
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