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NYC mayor says U.S. depends on immigrants
Staff and agencies
05 July, 2006


By KIMBERLY HEFLING, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago

PHILADELPHIA - The economy of the country‘s largest city and the entire nation would collapse if illegal immigrants were deported en masse, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a Senate committee hearing Wednesday.

"Although they broke the law by illegally crossing our borders ... our city‘s economy would be a shell of itself had they not, and it would collapse if they were deported," he said. "The same holds true for the nation."

House GOP leaders called for the hearings last month in a blow to President Bush ‘s ambitious election-year plan that includes a guest worker program and path to citizenship for millions in this country illegally.

The competing bill passed by the House focuses on enforcement and has no provision for illegal immigrants or future guest workers.

"Members of the House of Representatives want to control the borders. So do all of us here," Bloomberg said. "But believing that increasing border patrols alone will achieve that goal is either naive and shortsighted or cynical and duplicitous. No wall or army can stop hundreds of thousands of people each year."

Republican-led House committees also plans hearings outside Washington in mid-July on making English the nation‘s official language, and on how enforcement of immigration laws affects American workers. A mid-August hearing in Arizona will focus on costs to local and state governments.