Voted as part of the Senate Judiciary Committee to end chain migration and crack down on illegal immigration in 1996

Sen. Simpson voted as part of the Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of S. 1664, the Immigration Control and Financial Responsibility Act of 1996. S. 1664 was a large omnibus bill designed to reform the entire immigration system. The legal immigration reforms it included were based on the bi-partisan Barbara Jordan Commission's recommendations for cutting the major links of family-chain migration and protecting American workers from further wage depression. The bill would have eliminated the categories for adult children and siblings and limited that for parents of adults. S. 1664 also included dozens of provisions aimed at reducing illegal immigration, including a 10-year ban on legal re-entry for illegal aliens, additional border patrol agents and equipment, and worksite verification programs. S. 1664 was passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee by a vote of 13-4.

Tried to end chain migration in 1996

Sen. Simpson voted to end chain migration in 1996. He did that by voting for the Simpson Amendment to S.1664. For Americans who want to bring immigration back down toward traditional levels, that vote was the most important one cast since 1990. Total annual immigration had snowballed from less than 300,000 in 1965 to around a million primarily because of provisions allowing immigrants to send for their adult relatives. Then each of those relatives can send for their and their spouse's adult relatives, creating a never-ending and ever-growing chain. The bi-partisan Barbara Jordan Commission recommended doing away with the adult relative categories (begun only in the 1950s) in order to lessen wage depression among lower-paid American workers. Sen. Simpson agreed with the Jordan Commission. He voted in favor of the which attempted to carry out that recommendation. But the Senate voted 80-20 to kill the reform, thus endorsing the chain migration which the Census Bureau projects will double the U.S. population again in the next century. Sen. Simpson voted against that much-more congested future.

Voted in favor of legal immigration reform in 1996
During committee consideration of

Voted to reduce chain migration in 1996

Sen. Simpson voted in 1996 for the Feinstein Amendment to S.1664. The Feinstein Amendment would have reduced annual admission of spouses and minor children of citizens to 480,000 and significantly reduced annual limits other categories of chain migration such as parents of citizens, and adult unmarried children of citizens. By voting for the Feinstein Amendment, Sen. Simpson voted in favor of reducing a chain migration system that has been the primary reason for annual immigration levels snowballing from less than 300,000 in 1965 to around a million today. In 1996 the bi-partisan Barbara Jordan Commission recommended doing away with the adult relative categories (begun only in the 1950s) in order to lessen wage depression among lower-paid American workers. The Feinstein Amendment attempted to carry out that recommendation. The Feinstein Amendment would have had an overall impact of reducing U.S. population growth by about 1.2 million over 10 years, but it was defeated by a vote of 26 to 74.

Voted for huge increase in 1990

Sen. Simpson helped pass in 1990 that increased the numbers in all categories of immigration. America’s immigration tradition had been around 250,000 immigrants a year until the 1980s when numbers rose dramatically to more than 500,000 a year. After Sen. Simpson voted in 1990 in favor of raising limits, immigration has now snowballed to around 1,000,000 (one million) a year, contributing the majority of U.S. population and labor growth, congestion and sprawl.

Sen. Simpson has taken no action to reduce
the importation of specific foreign workers.

Citizenship for Illegal Alien Babies top

Sen. Simpson has taken no action to reduce
the rewarding of illegal immigration by giving citizenship
to anchor babies.

Inviting / Repelling Illegal Aliens top

Protected voluntary pilot programs for workplace verification in 1996

Sen. Simpson voted AGAINST the Abraham Amendment to S.1664. his vote was one in favor of setting up voluntary pilot programs in high-immigration states that would assist employers in verifying whether people they had just hired had the legal right to work in this country. Such verification is considered by many experts to be an essential tool for withdrawing the job magnet from illegal aliens. The verification system established by S.1664 did not involve an ID card. Rather it provided that when new workers wrote down their Social Security number on an application, employers could phone into a national verification system to help assure that the number was a real number and belonged to the person giving it. In earlier smaller pilot programs, businesses had hailed the verification system for making it easier for them to avoid hiring illegal aliens. But a coalition of conservative pro-business Members and of liberal civil libertarians tried to kill the verification program as too intrusive into the private rights of businesses and workers. Opposing that coalition, Sen. Simpson was part of a 54-46 majority that preserved the voluntary pilot programs.