Speech #890290548

I do not think. however. that my duty as a legislator stops with the passage of a single bill. Nor do I think that a historic problem of great complexity has ever been solved in a single response. The immigration laws of the United States have seen a greater improvement in the last year than at any other time in our history. Now. after 8 months in operation. I think we should give our new law an appreciative appraisal. Some unforeseen difficulties have arisen in the operation of one provision. section 212(a) (14). which requires a labor clearance for those immigrants who plan to seek employment in the United States. Under the new law. an immigrant is granted labor certification only after the Department of Labor has issued a clearance stating that his employment will not replace an American worker. depress his pay. or lessen the quality of his working conditions. Under this provision easy admission is granted only to those who fall in the third preference category. which includes professionals and people with advanced academic degrees in the arts and sciences. Others must arrange for a job in advance. These are the immigrants in the sixth and nonpreference categories and all Western Hemispheric natives except those who are the parents. spouses. or children of U.S. citizens and resident aliens. The immigrant. while residing out of the United States. must find an employer who will offer him a job which a regional office of the Department of Labor has cleared in advance. The alien. who is already burdened with complicated visa and medical forms. is also called upon to complete a form 575A. which requires that he declare his qualifications for a certain occupation. This may be the single factor restricting his entry to the United States. In this country the prospective em* ployer must go through the drawnout procedure of filing a form 575B requesting a certain type of immigrant worker * which he has proved is not available in the United States. He must wait months to learn if the worker has been granted clearance by the Department of Labor and an additional period of time before the worker actually arrives in this country. In many cases. employment conditions change during this waiting period. By and large. the delays have been caused by normal administrative difficulties related to the increased workload placed on the consulates and the Labor Department. which were swamped with applications as soon as the law went into effect. What effect has the labor certification process had on immigration to the United States? While the total number of immigrants to this country increased slightly this year. there have been considerable reductions in several important areas as a direct result of the labor clearance required by section 212(a) (14). This. I should point out. was not the legislative intent of this section. The distinguished Senator from Massachusetts. EDWARD M. KENNEDY. the floor manager of the bill. pointed out in a speech in this Chamber on May 25 that "the procedures established to administer section 212(a) (14) are unduly restrictive." He said further: I do not believe that the interpretation given this section by the Department of Labor adequately reflects the consensus expressed in this body during the debate last fall. or in the hearings issued by the Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization. I believe that the Senate anticipated more flexibility in the application of section 212(a) (14). The reduction of immigration to the United States as a result of the labor clearance stipulation is not fully apparent at the moment. because of the fact that relatives who had long been on preference waiting lists are finally being given visas through the use of the extra quota numbers deposited in the newly created pool. The numbers of qualified applicants from central and southern Europe who have been receiving visas thanks to our new law are most gratifying. I ask unanimous consent that a table. prepared on the basis of the latest immigration statistics for the fiscal year. be printed in the RECORD.