Speech #960288296

Others were selfemployed artisans . . . Only one out of the 50 had been primarily engaged in agricultural work. Twentysix out of fifty immigrants interviewed were women. Compared to the general population in Latin American countries. these wokers had a relatively high level of education ... All in all. these immigrants constituted a young. healthy. literate. semiskilled group of experienced laborers. representing a loss of resources to their own countries. This report is substantiated by a recent INS raid on a construction site in the Washington area. Nineteen illegal aliens were found working at wages between $11.000 and $20.000 a year. Faced with massive numbers of wellpaid illegal immigrant workers. some unions have turned to recruiting illegal immigrants. The AFLCIO. in a policy statement on fair hiring procedures. said that it should be made a crime to hire illegal immigrants. Yet the Wall Street Journal reported last November that: A new attitude toward illegal aliens is emerging in the American labor movement. Instead of summoning immigration agents to get the illegal workers deported. a small but growing number of unions are trying to sign up the workers as members. Although most unions continue to urge strong action against illegal immigrants. the effort by a few to recruit illegal immigrants complicates the issue of fair hiring procedures and will make it much more difficult to deal with if legislation action is delayed too long. The adverse impact of illegal immigration on unemployment during an economic downturn has been confirmed by an interagency task force appointed by President Carter. This group stated in its March 1979 staff report: If immigration occurs near the bottom of the business cycle. when many U.S. workers are unemployed it is unlikely to produce any significant benefits and it clearly will exacerbate unemployment or lower the relative wages of lowskilled workers or both. In other words. large scale illegal imAugust .1. 1980 CO migration occurring during 1980 when the President is predicting a recession and unemployment of 8.5 percent will cause additional unemployment and lower wages. This conclusion is supported by David North. director for the Center for Labor and Migration Studies at the New TransCentury Foundation. and a recognized expert on immigration. In a recent report. North states: The central point is that the presence of a substantial number of additional. usually hardworking. often docile. often exploited workers can only serve to flood already overstocked labor markets. thereby causing working conditions and the reward for work to remain stable. or perhaps decline relatively.