Speech #970203904

Mr. Speaker. the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1982. H.R. 6514. contains as one of its major provisions the establishment of sanctions and penalties against employers who knowingly hire aliens not authorized to work in the United States. Undocumented aliens come to the United States for jobs. That is the lure. that is the magnet. The immigration reform bill ends that lure. turns off that magnet. Most of the American people believe that it is already illegal to hire undocumented aliens. The person on the street assumes that. because it is illegal for an undocumented alien to work in this country. it must also be illegal for an employer to hire an undocumented alien. But. sad to report. this is not the case. It is not illegal under present Federal law to hire an undocumented alien. It is as if it were illegal to buy drugs but not illegal to sell them. Such a policy is upside down and ridiculous. and needs to be changed. When Senator ALAN SIMPSON and I introduced the reform bill. we included the employer sanctions provisions because we were convinced it was central to any effective reform of our Nations immigration laws. Judging from the anguish and distress expressed by the vociferous few who have argued against employer sanctions. one might think that Senator SIMPSON and I had dreamed up a new idea. one which had never been discussed before. and labeled it employer sanctions and placed it at the heart of our comprehensive bill. That is just not the case.