Speech #960288296

Vermont. and Virginia. Although Puerto Rico is not a State. it too. has a fair hiring statute. These statutes indicate there is a growing awareness of the economic burden imposed by illegal immigrants and that legislation requiring fair hiring practices is desired and feasible. However. this proliferation of State statutes will not solve the problem. Multiple legislative schemes create many practical problems which can only be solved by uniform Federal legislation. The legislators of the States mentioned before are not the only elected officials who are taking action to curb the impact of massive illegal immigration. Another Library of Congress study found that the Congress has acted in 11 different instances to keep illegal immigrants from receiving the benefit of Federal programs. In another Federal statute the actual hiring of illegal immigrants by farm labor contractors is prohibited. These legislative intiatives indicate to me that many Members of Congress are seriously concerned about the illegal immigration problem and would like to control it. Unfortunately. these piecemeal actions are not enough. There must be comprehensive legislation that goes to the heart of the problem. The vast majority of illegal immigrants come to the United States for one reasonjobs. Unless they are prevented from taking these jobs on a nationwide basis. we will never be able to deal effectively with the problem of unemployment in the United States. With a huge pool of easily exploited. uncomplaining illegal workers. unscrupulous employers can put more Americans out of work without any penalties. Fair hiring procedures will insure that Americans can get jobs that would otherwise go to illegal immigrants. What I am proposing today is not a new idea from the standpoint of what would be accomplished. President Carter introduced legislation in the 95th Congress which would have imposed penalties for the hiring of illegal immigrants. This amendment simply puts this idea in the right context: providing millions of jobs for Americans without massive infusions of Federal funds. The amendment that I am proposing would not make a substantive change in our immigration laws. It would not change our admission or exclusion procedures or change our legislated quota system. It would merely provide an effective means of providing jobs to legal residents and enforcing our existing immigration laws. I believe that one of the primary reasons why we have not enacted effective legislation to deal with the illegal immigration problem is our proper concern about the rights and needs of the illegal immigrant. We should be concerned about the welfare of any human being. But. as elected officials. our primary concern should be for the citizens and legal residents of the United States.