Speech #960288296

The general concept of fair hiring procedures was advocated last December by Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall as a way to cut unemployment to below 4 percent. Attorney General Civiletti. speaking for the administration. endorsed the idea as part of a comprehensive solution on February 5. 1980. The concept to which I am referring calls for an enforceable method of restoring jobs now held by illegal aliens to citizens and legal residents. The amendment I am submitting today would institute a simple system for insuring that new employees are able to find work and would provide penalties for employers who violate those provisions. In a relatively short period of time. without massive amounts of Federal funds and Federal paperwork. fair hiring practices would open up millions of jobs to individuals now on our unemployment rolls. Estimates of the number of illegal immigrants holding jobs in this country range between 6 and 12 million. Secretary of Labor Marshall. who has worked as a labor economist in this field for 25 years. said last year when unemployment was around 6 percent that if aliens were removed from the job market. unemployment could be brought down to 3.7 percent. And these new jobs. Secretary Marshall said. would go to the most vulnerable people in our society: minority youth. women. and older workers. The challenge of insuring that illegal immigrants do not take jobs which should be made available to American unemployed workers has traditionally been the task of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. But over the last few years. even though Congress has repeatedly appropriated more money for substantial increases in INS ability to conduct its job. the administration has blocked many of the increases. The reason for this resistance is that additional enforcement is thought to be only a part of controlling this problem. and the administration was interested in a comprehensive approach.