Speech #970042685

The bill. if you look at line 11 on page 12. prohibits legal assistance for or on behalf of any individual who is known to be an alien in the United States and so forth. Under the rules which have been promulgated by the Corporation. a recipient does not have to ask any person that is seeking assistance whether or not he is an alien. The only way that he would know that the person is an alien is if the particular case were a deportation proceeding or any other matter involving immigration. Now. we are talking. of course. about civil cases. This does not preclude an alien who is picked up by Immigration for a violation of law from having legal counsel. What we are talking about here is extending legal services to our people. the people of this country. and to permanent aliens in this country who have the equal protection of our laws. The funds for this Corporation have already been cut by 25 percent. the chances are that the other body is going to cut even deeper into this program. If that happens. if these illegal aliens are continued to be served. there are not going to be enough attorneys to represent our people. the people for which this particular program was established. It is very simple. In social security we now require some type of documentation to establish immigration status before a social security card is issued. SSI programs require documentation on immigration status from the applicant. All persons are asked for their birth certificate or other acceptable proof of American citizenship and the alien usually provides the green card. which is fine. Applicants under the CETA program also need to show documentation as to their birth or immigration status. Applicants for AFDC need to provide documentation. Why not under this program and why can we not deny illegal aliens this service. We are not denying them access to the courts. We are just saying that the taxpayers shall not pay for these services. I believe the bill itself in the next section. section 12. beginning on line 25. will probably solve the problem that we had in the past. not knowing that a person is an illegal alien. because the bill says: The Corporation shall require each recipient to maintain documentation(1) demonstrating the eligibility of each person to whom such recipient provides legal assistance. I think that language will take care of one of the shortcomings the bill has had in the pastthat of not having to inquire as to whether the particular recipient is an alien or not. Let me just ask the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee if I am correct in that interpretation.