Speech #910283475

There is a need for a relatively few tractor drivers. and for intelligent and skilled operators of other comparatively sophisticated farm machinery today. The wetback movement. however. is again increasing. Ten years ago the Border Patrol was apprehending wetbacks In this country at the rate of nearly 200.000 per year. Lately. the emphasis in illegal alien employment has been in factories. canneries. hotels. restaurants. and such employment. I understand that industrial employment of illegal aliens in California has increased sixfold between 1963 and 1969 and is still increasing at an accelerated rate. I understand that a similar situation prevails in other States along our Mexican border. The pay is better than it is in agriculture. Working conditions are better. Living conditions are better in the cities. Illegal aliens are finding out that the social agencies and the volunteer groups in the cities are willing and able to help them. even during their illegal stay in the United States. They quickly learn that an illegal alien is less conspicuous in a crowded barrio than in the open fields. the packing plants or on farms and ranches. The question might arise as to how people can work in such employment as this in view of the need for social security cards. The truth is that the wetback now goes into our cities and immediately applies for a social security cardand gets it. Recently in one of our Southwestern States the Social Security Administration was accused by a threejudge panel of paving the way for illegal aliens to get work in this country. The Social Security Administration issues cards and account numbers to illegal aliens without a question as to their status. Significantly. wetback income a few years ago reflected the cost of peon laborslave labor if you would like to call it thatbut today a wetback is paid the wage prevailing in the community and this is a prevailing wage in cities with a work force so large that the wetback numbers cannot affect that prevailing wage. Our Immigration Border Patrol frequently apprehends great numbers of wetbacks who are earning $3 or $4 up to $10 an hour. according to the individuals job and merit. In this connection some serious questions might arise in the minds of some of my colleagues. As there are several million unemployed Americans in this countryand the record indicates that there arewhy is it that the wetback who comes without recommendation and who must overcome a serious language barrier. often without experience and without contacts herehow is it that he is able to go to work immediately upon arrival? The record shows that ordinarily from the time of a wetbacks entry into this country and the time he is apprehended by the Border Patrol is a period measured in days or sometimes even a few short weeks. During that time these wetbacks. eager for any employment but working at the prevailing wages in the large cities of our country. seem to suffer no unemployment. The whole panorama of affairs with regard to the wetback is handled most amicably between Mexico and the United States.