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Phil Gingrey, MD, U.S. Representative (R-GA), in a May 8, 2007 congressional hearing testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law entitled "The Role of Family in Immigration," stated:

“An often overlooked problem is our flawed system of legal immigration and how it may contribute to illegal immigration… it is one of the fundamental reasons why our businesses have problems sponsoring legal immigrants, why our federal caseworkers have problems with paperwork backlogs, and why our system has become so frustrating that individuals outside the United States would rather risk immigrating here illegally than wait forever in line… Depending on the country of application it could be 10 to 40 years or more before that visa is available under regular skill-based circumstances. As a result, a third of current legal immigrants… first came here as illegal aliens until their visa came up and they then went home to process the paperwork.”

May 8, 2007