Speech #940007358

Mr. President. today there are a huge number of jobs held by illegal aliens in America. when millions of American citizens are unemployed. I wish to address myself to changes in public policy necessary to correct this injustice. We have the unhappy statistics as to the growth of unemployment due to a combination of inflation. energy shortages. and sharp decline in consumption and capital forntion. The latest shows 7.1 percent of our work force unemployed. In human terms. this means 6 million people out of work. Alongside this. we have estimates by the Immigration and Naturalization Service that there are from 6 to 12 million illegal aliens in this country. Stated another way. those who have come illegally in recent years more than equal the total of all those who have entered our country legally over the past 25 years. This in itself is bad enough. But I am receiving frequent complaints from citizens in Nebraska and neighboring States seeking employment that a large number of jobs are held by illegal aliens. Many of my colleagues report the same situation elsewhere in the country. Attorney General William Saxbe. last October. estimated that at least one million jobsare held by illegal aliens. In December. after hearings by a House Government Operations Subcommittee. it was stated that illegal aliens take at least 1.2 million jobs from American citizens. and earn $10 billion annually. These are not simply "jobs that no one else will take." as is sometimes asserted. According to Representative LEo RYAN. of that committee. half the jobs held by illegal aliens pay from $4.50 to $6.50 per hour and another 20 percent are semiskilled. The 30 percent remaining are lowerpaying farm jobs. Again. this Is confirmed by individual letters and calls received from constituents. both nativeborn or naturalized. If these jobs were available to American citizens. it would reduce unemployment by 20 percent of those unemployed. and by more than 1 percent of all Americans in the labor market. In many instances. the illegal alien sends part of his money earned to his native country. Thus. this transfer of funds represents one more cash outflow affecting adversely our balanceofpayments position. Mr. President. I realize that all immigrantslegal or illegalstill come to America because it is the land of opportunity. I realize that many illegal aliens are exploited and forced to accept lower wages. or poorer working conditions lest their illegal status be reported. But these factors can hardly serve as justification when the net effect is to take jobs from citizelnsmany of whom came to this country under our inmigration and naturalization lawsand depress wage levels. Our first obligation is to our citizens. particularly when so many are unemployed. As to why so many aliens have entered this country illegally. there seems to be general agreement with Commissioner Leonard Chapmanand I commend him for his candorthat the Immigration and Naturalization Service has simply not had enough funds to prevent the silent. stealthy. unceasing flow of illegal entries. At present. he has only 1.350 men to cover the entire 2.000 mile Mexican border. Most of the illegal aliens come from the Western Hemisphere. and of these the largest number come from Mexico. Nor will this flood stop. the surplus labor force in Mexico is expected to soar in years to come. Parenthetically. it should be noted that prior to the enactment of the Immigration Act of 1965. the problem of illegal entries from Western Hemisphere countries was relatively minor. The actperhaps unintentionallyseems to have established policies which actually encourage such entries. Commissioner Chapman has pointed out that not only do these illegal aliens take jobs from American citizens. but they benefit from our countrys general social services. and educational facilities. without paying any taxes. Mr. President.