Speech #820165475

The bill as now drawn merely imposes penalties for those who bring labor illegally into the United States or who harbor labor illegally. We well know that in tlhe case of the Mexicans they are not brought in. They come across the Rio Grande River generally when it is rather low. Sometimes they get their backs wet. sometimes they only get their feet wet. They come in to the United States illegally by the hundreds of thousands each year. At present the immigration authorities are virtually helpless in dealing with them. They enter in such large numbers as to drive down the wages of American farm labor. and they are not well paid. themselves. In 1950.