Speech #920282597

Ill.. New York Cityand we heard from 186 witnesses who were affected by. or familiar with. this problem. As a result of these hearIngs. we have concluded that the 1 to 2 million illegal aliens in the United States have: First. had a significant impact on our unemployment problem. second. burdened both Federal and State public assistance programs. and third. severely affected the U.S. balance of payments. In addition. we have learned that the illegal alien himself is oftentimes exploited by the unscrupulous employers who threaten to expose the alien to immigration officials If he complains about substandard wages and working conditions or the denial of fringe benefits. Furthermore. many States desperately concerned with this problem have considered legislation to impose penalties on employers of illegal aliens or to deny welfare assistance to those who enter the United States illegally. In this regard. it should be noted that a California court recently struck down a State statute imposing penalties on illegal aliens on the grounds that the language of the statute was unconstitutionally vague and the court indicated. but did not specifically rule. that this Is an area of law which may be preempted by the Federal Government. The concept of imposing Federal penalties on those who knowingly hire illegal aliens has also been either suggested or recommended by: First. the administration. particularly the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the Department of Justice. second. the Presidents Commission on Population Growth and the American Future. and third. representatives of organized labor. The severity of the problem Is clearly demonstrated by the statistics compiled by the Immigration and Naturalization Service relating to the number of illegal aliens located and deported in fiscal year 1972. In that fiscal year. over 500.000 illegal aliens were located and 467.185 were Septemnber 12. 1972 COI actually removed. Instead of indicating better control of the illegal alien. the committee is of the opinion that the statistics relating to apprehension and deportation plainly illustrates that the problem has reached critical proportions and. in the absence of remedial legislation. will continue to worsen. It is significant to note that the number of illegal aliens removed from the United States in recent years exceeds the number of aliens who are annually admitted for lawful permanent residence under our present immigration law. Moreover. the committee is aware that the Immigration and Naturalization Service lacks sufficient funding and personnel to effectively combat the problem. Despite the fact that eight out of 10 illegal aliens apprehended are Mexican natives. the problem Is no longer restricted to the border areas of the Southwestern United States. Increasingly. illegal aliens travel. or arrange to be transported. to all of the major metropolitan areas in the United States. where they can obtain higher paying jobs and. at the same time. more easily escape detection by immigration authorities. It is quite apparent that the primary reason an alien enters this country illegally is to obtain a job and consequently. the best way to attack the problem is to eliminate the availability of employment by Imposing sanctions on the employer who knowingly hires illegal aliens. In other words. this legislation is designed to remove the economic incentive which causes aliens to illegally enter this country or to enter legally as a nonimmigrant and thereafter violate the conditions of their admission. In drafting legislation to impose sanctions. the committee was careful. first of all. to protect the innocent employer of illegal aliens and. second. to eliminate the possibility of employment discrimination against ethnic or minority groups. We believe section 2 of H.R. 16188 accomplishes these objectives. This provision establish a threestep procedure for the imposition of sanctions. including citations by the Attorney General. civil fines. and criminal penalties. For example: First. for a first violation. the Attorney General is directed to serve a citation on the employer informing him of an apparent violation. Second. if an employer commits a second offense within 2 years after receiving a citation. the Attorney General is directed to impose a fine of not more than $500 for each alien. and Third. following the imposition of a fine. if an employer commits an additional violation. he shall be subject to a fine of $1.000 and/or 1year imprisonment for each alien. Section 2 of this bill would also repeal the provision in our present immigration law which specifies that normal employment practices shall not be deemed to constitute the harboring or concealing of illegal aliens. In addition. there are two provisos contained in section 2 which are designed to insure that innocent employers of illegal aliens will not be prosecuted under this legislation. The first proviso states that an employer who makes a bona fide effort to ascertain whether the prospective employee is entitled to work in the United States shall not be subject to civil or criminal liability. The second provision stipulates that if an employer obtains from his employee a signed statement that he is a citizen. a permanent resident. or an alien authorized to work in the United States. this shall be deemed prima facie evidence that the employer has made a bona fide inquiry. Another provision of this bill. section 1. would allow qualified and admissible natives of the Western Hemisphere to adjust their status from a nonimmigrant to an immigrant without leaving the United States to obtain an immigration visa. This relief is presently available to natives of the Eastern Hemisphere and the committee believes that it should also be made available to Western Hemisphere natives. This section would. however. deny adjustment of status to aliensother than immediate relativeswho have accepted unauthorized employment. The other substantive provision of this bill would amend 18 United States Code 1546 to expressly include bordercrossing cards. alien registration receipt cards. and other immigration documents used for entry into. or as evidence of stay in. the United States. This provision is necessitated by the Supreme Courts decision in United States v. CamposSerrano. 404 U.S. 293 (1971). In that decision. the Court held that 18 United States Code 1546. which imposes criminal penalties for falsifying or misusing falsified immigration documents. does not cover alien registration receipt cards or bordercrossing cards since they were not specifically mentioned in the statute. Sections 4 and 5 of this bill contain a standards savings clause and an effective date clause. In summary. there are two primary goals which this legislation is designed to acomplish. First. this bill will eliminate the intolerable situation existing under current law which enables employers to hire and exploit illegal aliens without fear of penalties. Second. this legislation will have the effect of assuring all American workers. particularly those who are lowskilled. or unskilled. that they will not have to compete for scarce jobs with aliens illegally in the United States. In this regard.