Speech #930254573

Mr. Chairman. I rise to associate myself with the remarks of the gentleman from Pennsylvania. and to further discuss the serious problems faced by the Immigration Service with respect to illegal aliens which would be aggravated by manpower cuts caused by a reduction in their requested appropriations. Oversight hearings held in April of this year by the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration on which I am pleased to serve as ranking member heard testimony from Gen. L. F. Chapman. Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. He stated that: With regard to law enforcement the problem is the very large number of illegal aliens in this country. more every day. and our efforts to keep them out. and find those who are here and remove them. He added the second most important aspect of the illegal alien situation is the crime growing out of it. General Chapman went on to cite the smuggling of illegal aliens into this country. the arranging of fraudulent marriages and the preparations of fraudulent documents as examples of the serious crime surrounding the problem. The number of illegal aliens discovered by the Immigration Seivice has risen from less than 100.000 in fiscal 1964 to an anticipated 900.000 in the present fiscal year. Our subcommittee has heard testimony indicating that illegal aliens in this country displace U.S. citizens from jobs. especially among lowpaid occupations. and others find their way into our welfare rolls. The House has dealt with this problem by passing H.R. 982 during the last session which imposes sanctions on employers for knowingly employing such illegal aliens and that bill is now pending in the SenateHowever. we must also provide enough money for the manpower needed to control this everincreasing flow of illegal aliens. I had the pleasure of recently visiting the New Orleans office of the Immigration Service and I can personally report that the staff there is significantly undermanned. For example. on ships coming up the Mississippi. often there is only one Immigration Service official available to inspect an entire ship. This results in less than adequate inspections. increasing the possibility of illegal aliens entering this country. To do their job. the Border Patrol of the New Orleans office frequently has to recruit from other services. Mr. Chairman. this is not the time to cut back on personnel for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. I am sure with the legislation we have passed last session. together with adequate funding. the Immigration Service will be able to bring this grave problem under control.