Speech #970000215

Mexico and the United States are inextricably linked in most activities involving commerce and international relations. In no area are we more intertwined than in the area of migration. Later this year the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy will issue its formal report. Its preliminary recommendations indicate that this will be a controversial problem and require resolution by this Congress. Being from a Southwestern State. which has a lengthy border with Mexico. has naturally made me very interested in the problems of undocumented workers. The problem is now of truly national scope and importance. and the time for addressing our immigration policy is at hand. The purpose of the bill I am reintroducing is to establish a legal framework for admitting a specified number of Mexican workers without adversely affecting domestic workers. However. for too long our policy in this area has failed to address the realities of Mexican migration. No social problem facing North America is of more longterm significance to so many people than the problems of undocumented workers from Mexico. It is a problem for the United States because there is a growing shortage of workers in jobs only workers from Mexico will take. It is a problem for Mexico because any major restriction on Mexican workers would aggravate the extreme unemployment that country faces. It is a problem for our Government because it is impossible to police the border between Mexico and the United States at reasonable cost. The harder we try. the richer the inhuman smugglers get without any significant reduction on the numbers of illegal aliens entering our country. It is a problem for willing U.S. workers because undocumented workers at times displace these workers by working at much lower pay scales. It is a problem for people. those in Mexico upon whom economic crisis has descended. those in this country whose businesses need workers. and those Mexicans who live in fear of being uprooted from the life they have made among us. Increased border enforcement alone. employers sanctions and national identity cards are neither workable in fact. nor humanistic in spirit. However. in discussing these proposals it began to become apparent what was needed. New research. both in the United States and Mexico. disclose the scope and nature of the problem far better than ever before. It also became apparent what Mexico feels should be the essential elements of a solution to a problem which involves so many of her citizens. First of all. modern research now indicates that most undocumented workers from Mexico come here because of a temporary and personal economic crisis in their family. They make only a few such trips in a lifetime and stay for only about 8 months. Those who stay longer appear to do so because of the difficulty of moving back and forth across the border or because they have established roots in the United States.