Speech #930041659

It is a limited attempt to reach a certain part of this problem. and it is an attempt to do it in a way which takes account of the situation as we face it. Like most bills that reach the floor. it is a compromise measure. The thought was this: While the laws provide that illegal aliens are deportable. and unless they are here on an immigration status or some other special status. they are not entitled to employment. there is not much teeth in the law. and a great many aliens illegally present are working and are taking employment which American citizens might have. The only thing we now do is deport the alien. and there is no penalty on the employer. So the thinking was that if some sort of a penalty were attached here which would counteract to a certain extent the strong economic drive to violate these laws. maybe that might be a useful approach. The bill originally considered by the subcommittee put penalties on both the illegal alien who took work when he was not entitled to it. and criminal penalties right off the bat on the employer. There were those on the subcommittee who did not think we ought to criminally penalize. any more than the law now does. a man simply because he took a job when he needed it. even though he was not entitled under the laws to have it. There were other members of the committee who did not think we wanted to make every employer in the United States who might get an illegal alien in his employ necessarly a violator of the criminal law. So it was compromised. and the bill as it is presented does nothing to the alien whatsoever. His status remains as it was. If he is here in an illegal status. he is now deportable. Under this bill he is still deportable. and that is all that happens to him. The bill does not really do anything to him. Where the employer is concerned. we. rather than make him guilty immediately of a criminal violation. have written into this bill a threestep procedure. The bill for the first timeand this is the main thing that it does. there are some other features. but this is the main thing it doesmakes it an offense to knowingly employ or continue to employ an alien who is not lawfully here. lawfully entitled to be employed in the United States. The key word is "knowingly." There is no offense committed by the employer unless he knowingly employs the illegal alien contrary to law. If he does that. he is guilty of an offense. He is guilty of an offense if he employs these people in the future knowingly. he is guilty if he has illegals in his employ when the law goes into effect and he knows it and he knowingly continues to keep them in his employ.