Speech #840074605

Mr. Chairman. under present lawtitle V of the Agricultural -Act of 1949. as amendedthe Secretary of Labor has the authority to guarantee performance of contract provisions relating to wages. The agreement with Mexico on migrant workers in article 30 includes procedures to enforce compliance with the wage provisions of work contracts. These wage guaranties were intended to protect the migrant Mexican worker from exploitation. and at the same time to protect the interests of American workers in that a lower wage scale paid the migrant worker would depress prevailing wage scale. However. the fact is that some employers of Mexican migrant workers have been evading the law. They contracted for a Mexican laborer at a reception center and agreed to pay him the prevailing wage. but subsequently by threatening to send the laborer back. they force him to agree to accept wages at less than the prevailing level. Such foul play by a few unscrupulous employers work to the detriment of the Mexican laborer. the American worker. and is damaging to lawabiding employers who comply with their contractual commitments. and have to compete with the wagecutting competitor. These reprehensible practices and their forcible acceptance by the Mexican worker amounts to a violation of the condition of admission of that worker under the immigration laws and regulations. while the Agricultural Act of 1949. as amended. now expressly provides that these workers are subject to our immigration laws. my amendment would implement these provisions so as to enable the Immigration and Naturalization Service to take prompt and effective action. I particularly want to point out that under my amendment the Attorney General has the alternative of returning the worker to a reception center for reassignment to another employer under a new contract. instead of deporting him for violation of conditions of entry. This determination is to be made in the light of the national interest of the United States. Thus my amendment would make possible a flexible application of the law. along with providing means for dealing with a situation which must not be permitted to last. Mr. Chairman. I understand some objection will be made to this amendment. raised by the Department of Labor. that this amendment in some way would interfere with our agreement with Mexico under the migrant workers law. How could that possibly be in the light of the Agricultural Act of 1949 as it is now worded which implements this migrant workers law? Section 508 of that law provides: Nothing in this act shall be construed as limiting the authority of the Attorney General pursuant to the general immigration laws to permit the importation of aliens of any nationality for agricultural employment as defined in section 507 or to permit such alien who entered the United States legally to remain for the purpose of engaging in agricultural employment under such conditions and for such time as he the Attorney General shall specify. So the Attorney General is given authority under the present law to deal with this problem of these migrant workers under the immigration and naturalization laws. Under this amendment there is spelled out. the particular action the Attorney General may take in the event of violation. It seems to me this works to the benefit of the migrant worker. All it does is simply this: if they find a violation. under present law they have to deport him. under my amendment they may reassign the worker to another farmer.