Speech #830189473

Mr. President4 million illegal entries. Does that not make a joke of our immigration laws? Does that not make all our precautions at our ports of legal entry seem ridiculous? Why should we have innumerable inspections of our visitors from Europe and Asia and expose them to all the ordeals of our immigration laws--some of them vicious and unjustifiable ordeals. in my opinionand then permit 4 million illegal entries. without any inspection whatever. without so much as a howdoyoudo to an American immigrant official? Mr. President. the total appropriation for the Immigration and Naturalization Service proposed in this bill is $31/4 million less than was appropriated to be spent in the current fiscal year. That saving is to be accomplished by eliminating 640 positions. 559 of which would be in the field. This is a drastic cut. a cut of almost onetenth of the jobs in the entire Immigration and Naturalization Service. It is true that the committee stipulates that this cut shall not be at the expense of the border patrol which indeed is increased by 36 positionsimagine it. 36 additional positions to prevent 4 million illegal entries. But I do not see how illegal immigration can be curtailed by reducing personnel. Some activity which has been deemed essential is going to be cut. This cut will not help keep out- illegal immigrants. even though the border patrol is not cut. even though 500 border patrolmen. according to the press announcements this morning. are going to be transferred from other areas to the Mexican border. . There is also a considerable illegal immigration from Canada. Is this going to be increased now? I should like to know how the Government can afford to move 500 pafrrolmen from the Canadian borders and from the port areas to the Mexican border. This situation has many implications. All of us can see the clear danger to the security of the United States of subversive elements and sabotage agents walking across open sections of this border. boarding buses. and going anywhere they wish in the UnitedStates. There is clear evidence that this great Influx of illegal immigration has worked havoc on the health standards of many of the great cities of the southwest. The welfare cases which arise from the illegal aliens becoming stranded within such jurisdictions have zoomed upward. putting a heavy burden on the municipalities so affected. Crime rates have increased rapidly. Theft. murder. and drug traffic are all plaguing the law enforcement officers of the cities. States. and counties of the southwest. where the uncontrolled human wave of wetbacks washes most of its flotsam and jetsam. Commissioner Mackey of the Immigration and Naturalization Service testified as follows before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee: Late in the fiscal year the service was implored by citizens associations. chambers of commerce. and peace officers to use all possible resources toward controlling the hordes of illegal aliens flooding the southwest. Reports of robbery. rape. and pillage by wetbacks in that area provided ample testimony to the fact that the situation was. and remains serious indeed (p. 161). Not the least of the problems arising from this human tide of people in search of employment is the effect which an Influx of millions of such workers has on the labor market and labor standards throughout our country.