mr. gardner. >> thank you, mr. chairman and members of the committee for the opportunity to testify. my statement has been submitted for the record. this hearing is an important step in addressing immigration reform in a systematic manner. clearly, our current system is broken. immigration is an important issue for my district and for everyone on this panel. ignoring immigration law for approximately two decades has resulted in approximately 11 million people in the united states without documentation. 42% were once here legally, but overstayed their visas. the 1986 bill has proven unworkable.and too easily avoidable. we must reform immigration laws. we must do so in a step-by-step

mr. gardner. >> thank you, chairman, ranking member, chairman, other members of the committee, the upper to the to testify today. my full statement has been submitted for the record. an important step towards addressing immigration reform in a sensible and systematic manner . immigration is an important issue for my district dislike it is for everyone on this panel. ignoring immigration laws for nearly two decades has helped 11 million people without documentation. forty to 42 percent of all undocumented individuals were once illegally but overstayed visas. the 1986 bill has proven unworkable and too easily avoidable. we must reform immigration laws and do so on a step-by-step process with deliberation and debate surrounding each piece of reform. we must begin with for security

mr. gardner, would like to say something so i yield to you sir. mr. gardner: -- on the economy and those things that we truly need to get under control in this country in order to build better lives for our families and families across this nation. thank you, mr. speaker, for the time tonight. and i notice the gentleman from illinois did say that his district was flat. i think it surprises a lot of people when i say, look, i represent the second largest geographic area in the state of colorado in congress and most of my district is flat as well. i understand what the gentleman is talking about when it comes to vast areas of great flat land in the high plains of colorado. when we got elected in 2010, i think most of us, the three of of us here tonight and we may be joined by others tonight, who all got elected in 2010 because we wanted to find a way to make america work again. to empower the people around this country, whether it was the inner cities of our biggest areas, to people in rural areas, across colorado and this nation. empower them to build t

mr. gardner, for 10 minutes. mr. gardner: i thank the speaker for the additional time to continue this conversation. for this opportunity to discuss what is truly one of the biggest issues this congress, this nation faces. i recently was talking to a reporter back home about the immigration debate taking place and asking about the senate bill, asking about what the house was doing. i think the house feels every bit as urgent as this issue truly deserves before all of us. but because of that, because of the urgency to do it right, it is going to take time through this body to make sure we create that step-by-step opportunity for people who want to come into this nation to create the board security and border enforcement and have answers for every person in this nation. and so as we create this process, this debate as it moves forward, every bit as urgent as any other american before to be a part of this country, the urgency to make sure this happens. to the gentleman from illinois or wisconsin, north carolina and would

mr. gardner. k you, mr. chairman and members of the committee for the opportunity to testify. my statement has been submitted for the record. this hearing is an important step in addressing immigration reform in a systematic manner. our current system is broken. importantn is an issue for my district and for everyone on this panel. ignore immigration law for approximately two decades has resulted in million people in the united states without documentation. 42% were once here legally, but overstay their visas. the 1986 mill has proven -- bill has proven unworkable. have deliberation and debate surrounding each piece of reform and we must begin with border security and interior enforcement. we cannot simply put reform to the side because it is unworkable or the political will is simply not present to make it work. we have the chance to prove to be american people that the federal government can be trusted to build a long-term and common sense system. it has been signed by many that the united states

mr. gardner: let me add to that. mr. kinzinger: the president can talk about the rains act, some of those things. i make a promise here today, if the president comes to the republicans and says, give me some ideas and we give him ideas and he takes them, i will not go out and say that is a victory for republicans. let's get the partisanship out of this and say it's not to be republicans or democrats, but americans. mr. speaker, i would say that the president has made in his mind a valiant attempt to save the economy and unfortunately, it hasn't worked. so come to us. let us give you some ideas and if you adopt our ideas, i, i personally promise that i will not go out and say the republican party rolled the president or the democrats. i will say america just won because we worked together to get some big things done. mr. gardner: that's what this country needs. i'm working in a bipartisan fashion with a democrat from democrat from vermont on an energy efficiency measure. the president talked about performance crabts to cr

mr. gardner. i now recognize our friend and fellow judiciary committee member, mr.rrez. >> thank you, chairman gowdy and ranking member lofgren for inviting me to testify today. 12 years ago i introduced the first bill to legalize the status of young people brought to this country by their parents. the immigrant children's educational advantage and dropout prevention act, 2001. since i introduced that first bill, the movement for legal immigration, for immigration reform and legalization has grown broader and deeper. in every community today there are young people, religious people, women, business owners, immigrant moms and dads, and regular civic-minded u.s. citizens organizing to make sure we pass immigration reform this year in the u.s. congress. over the august recess members of this committee and members of the house of representatives will see firsthand the desire for reform is real and present in their communities across this nation. we have recently heard the speaker of the house and the majority leader and a wide array of republican voices say they are for

mr. gardner. >> thank you, mr. chairman and members of the committee for the opportunity to testify. my statement has been submitted for the record. this hearing is an important step in addressing immigration reform in a systematic manner. clearly, our current system is broken. immigration is an important issue for my district and for everyone on this panel. ignoring immigration law for approximately two decades has resulted in approximately 11 million people in the united states without documentation. 42% were once here legally, but overstayed their visas. the 1986 bill has proven unworkable.and too easily avoidable. we must reform immigration laws. we must do so in a step-by-step process, with deliberation and debate surrounding each piece of reform and we must begin with border security and interior enforcement. we cannot simply put reform to the side because it is unworkable or the political will is simply not present to make it work. we have the chance to prove to the american people that the federal government can be trusted to build a long-term and common sense system. it has