Speech #930041724

I shall vote for passage of H.R. 982. but I wish to point out that the issues to which this legislation is addressed are complex and controversial. The basic purpose of the bill. to deter U.S. employers from giving jobs to aliens who are illegally present in this country is sound. Illegal immigrants often compete with lowincome U.S. workers for jobs. As a result. some nativeborn Americans. naturalized citizens. and legal immigrants with work permits are displaced from opportunities in the job market and may be forced onto welfare and unemployment rolls. thus adding to the national tax burden. Illegal immigrants pay no income taxes and often send the bulk of their wages back to their native countries. thereby contributing to the U.S. balance of payments deficit. Because they are fearful of apprehension by U.S. Immigration authorities. illegal aliens usually will not complain when employers pay them substandard wages. below the U.S. minimum wage level. These illegal aliens also accept working and living conditions which do not meet legal requirements because they prefer to endure hardships imposed by unscrupulous employers rather than risk detection by law enforcement officials and expulsion from the country. The net result is that heartless employers hold these illegal aliens in virtual peonage and avoid the necessity of paying the minimum wage to American workers and meeting job standards which U.S. workers would demand. Statistics bear out the fact that the problem of illegal aliens in the U.S. job market is serious. In 1972. over a half million were apprehended by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. It is impossible to measure precisely the number of aliens illegally present in the United States. but general estimates place the total at between 1 million and 2 million. However. there are dangers which could arise from improper administration of the law proposed by H.R. 982. Congress must put on the record a warning to the Government agencies which would be involved in the administration of this lawthe Department of Justice. the Department of Health. Education. and Welfare. and the Immigration and Naturalization Serviceto guard against those abuses in the governmental and private sectors which might arise as a result of the enactment of this bill. It is said that U.S. employers. fearful of punishment for hiring illegal aliens. might refuse to hire anyone who speaks no English or speaks it with a foreign accent. Since more than 85 percent of the illegal aliens are from Latin America. this could result in job discrimination against all Spanishsurnamed or Spanishspeaking Americans. including especially the large Chicano populations in the Southwest and the Puerto Rican residents of the Northeast. This dangerous problem can be avoided by making clear to all potential employers that the law requires only a good faith effort on the part of the employer to insure that the prospective employee is a legitimate member of the U.S. work force. The receipt by the employer of a statement signed by the prospective employee confirming that he is a U.S. citizen or an authorized work permit holder constitutes prima facie evidence that the employer has made a bona fide inquiry. An employer can only be punished if he "knowingly" hires an illegal alien. The respective Government agencies have a duty to remind employers that title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of national origin. and the agencies must insure that the implementation of this legislation does not cause job discrimination against legitimate employees of the affected ethnic and minority groups. In addition. some minority group communities. particularly those with large concentrations of Spanishspeaking persons. are fearful that the Immigration and Naturalization Service may engage in wholesale roundups and dragnets of Spanishspeaking persons. including U.S. citizens and lawfully resident aliens. in an attempt to ferret out illegal aliens. Of course. the administrators of the INS must avoid any such "razzia"-type actions which would be in violation of the constitutional rights of American citizens and residents and highly offensive to minority group communities. In any event. enactment of the bill before us would not in any way add to this problem. Indeed. it might well make such actions less likely. since enforcement procedures would no longer be aimed solely at the illegal immigrants. as is now the case. If due precautions are observed. Mr. Chairman. then the effect of this legislation will be a benefit to all nativeborn or naturalized Americans and legally resident aliens. particularlar those persons who must compete for employment at the lower end of the income scale.