Speech #910122044

They are called wetbacks. because many gain entry by swimming across the Rio Grande. In an unprecedented decision a California court has ruled that domestic farmworkers have a right to prevent agricultural employers from hiring wetbacks in order to depress wages and working conditions. since the use of wetbacks to the detriment of local workers would be an unfair business practice. The suit follows the settlement of a previous action when a grower agreed to request that prospective agricultural employees offer proof of lawful status in the United States. such as an alien registration receipt card. commonly known as a green card. or a valid draft card. or a local drivers license. Legal action undertaken by California Rural Legal Assistance on behalf of farmworkers punctuates the failure of the Government to effectively implement laws enacted by Congress for the protection of domestic labor. The immigration laws provide that alien workers shall not be imported if their use will have an adverse effect on domestic wages and working conditions8 U.S.C. 1182(a) 14. Consistent with controls on foreign labor. Congress prohibited directly or indirectly inducing illegal entry into the United States or harboring or concealing illegal entrants from discovery. However. a loophole exempts the employment of illegal entrants from the statute8 U.S.C. 1324. This provision which has made it easy for illegal entrants to obtain employment both on the farms and increasingly in the cities. contributes substantially to the presence in the United States of perhaps as many as 400.000 aliens who entered illegally. have no right to be here. but who deprive lowincome domestic workers of jobs. In the fiscal year ending June 30. 1969. the Immigration and Naturalization Service reported the apprehension of 151.000 illegal entrants. possibly only onethird of those aliens who escaped detection. The use of wetbacks coincides with high unemployment and low wages. At the current rate of unemployment perhaps as many as one out of every six unemployed American workers could be out of work because of the use of illegal entrants.