Speech #930041716

Notwithstanding his high quality efforts some factions in this country. for their own selfish motivation. irrespective of the welfare of the United States. have attempted to label this bill as racist. I deplore such irresponsible accusations. I rise in support of H.R. 982. a bill to make it unlawful for the U.S. employers or their agents to knowingly hire aliens who are here illegally. or whose immigration status prohibits their accepting employment. Based on extensive hearings on the illegal alien problem held by House Judiciary Subcommittee No. 1 during 1971 and 1972. we estimate that there are between 1 and 2 million illegal aliens currently in the country. and that the majority of them are employed or seeking employment. It became abundantly clear during the course of the hearings that employment is the key to the whole problem. It is the near certainty of employment which brings the illegal alien here in the first place or. in the case of the nonimmigrant. causes him to violate the terms of his visa. The illegal alien is subject to exploitation by unscrupulous employers who take advantage of his vulnerable position. usually by paying him low wages and denying him fringe benefits such as vacations. overtime. and health care. I want to stress this point because I believe there is some misplaced sympathy for the illegal alien who will have difficulty finding employment here if this bill is passed. The physical and emotional conditions under which many illegally employed aliens now work border on the conditions of slavery. Perpetuating this situation is surely misplaced humanitarianism. I would like to turn now to the objection against the bill which has been raised on the grounds that it will lead to the separation of families. It is argued that this bill will result in the deportation of illegal aliens who may be the close relatives of U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens. First. if in fact this allegation were true. my previous argument regarding the intolerable conditions under which most illegal aliens work and. for that matter. live with their families. would be directly relevant. However. those who have made this allegation have apparently done so on the basis of inadequate information. The bill before us today deals only with the employability of illegal aliens. and not with their deportability. In no way does the bill affect the immigration status of aliens. nor does it establish any additional grounds for deportation. In other words. the objection regarding the separation of families is simply not germane to the provisions of H.R. 982. The objection has been raised that this legislation will result in discrimination on the part of employers against some people who are legally entitled to work in this country. and particularly against Mexican Americans and Mexicans.