Mr. Speaker. earlier this month an incident took place in Chicago that in my mind shakes the vary foundation on which this country was founded. Briefly. the incident concerned the arrest of 41 Polish cleaning ladies on the charge that they were illegal aliens. The women. who could not speak English. were forced to spend the night in jail and now they face deportation. In recent months the Immigration and Naturalization Service has conducted an increased crackdown on illegal aliens partly because it is felt that the aliens are taking jobs away from Americans. While I certainly agree that we should not deprive American citizens of jobs which may be filled by illegal aliens. at the .same time I wonder how many Americans brought up on color TV and twocar garages would be willing to mon floors in a Chicago skyscraper at 11 oclock at night. Most of the illegal aliens in this country are filling jobs that no one else wants. and many of the aliens are accepting virtual starvation wages because they know they cannot complain to anyone about the pay or working conditions. Mr. Speaker. America was founded by aliens. It was made great by people from other lands who are willing to work and work hard to build a great country. I sometimes wonder if we have the zest for hard work which has made this country the greatest nation in the world. and are we now trying to cover up our lack of interest in hard work by seeking to prosecute the illegal aliens because they are willing to perform the jobs we do not want. At the same time. I cannot help but wonder why we prosecute illegal aliens. but take no action against those who employ them. I have supported legislation that would place the responsibility upon the employers who hire illegal aliens. It was the other body which failed to act to correct this problem. If indeed illegal aliens are taking jobs away from Americans. then as legislators it is our job to take action to correct the problem. And perhaps our governmental agencies are equally to blame. How is it that some 600.000 social security cards have been issued to illegal aliens? When an employer sees an applicant with a social security card this is usually the only type of check that is made to determine if the person can legally be employed. Mr. Speaker. it is time that the entire question of illegal alien employment be reviewed. The answer to the problem is certainly not to round up a group of frightened women in the middle of the night and put them in jail. And we must also consider who will perform the jobs now being done by the illegal aliens. Although we have a serious unemployment situation in this country. I know of no great clamor by people to apply for jobs mopping floors.
Identified stereotypes
Generalization that illegal aliens are willing to work harder and for less pay than Americans.