Speech #970221620

Mr. President. the basic purpose of S. 2222. the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1982. is implicit in the bills titleto reform our legal immigration system and to improve control over illegal immigration to this country. Although absolute data on the occupations of illegal immigrants is difficult to obtain. it was made clear through the long series of hearings held on this bill that the harvesting of American agriculture. particularly in the West. is currently heavily dependent on the labor of illegal immigrants. The Census Bureau found that the population of U.S. migrant farmworkers decreased from 400.000 in 1960 to 200.000 in 1970. The Department of Labor actively encourages U.S. citizens and permanent residents to leave seasonal agricultural work for more permanent employment with greater upward mobility. Conversely. the Department of Agriculture estimated that there are about 300.000 to 600.000 illegal migrant farmworkers now doing these jobs. clearly dominating this labor market. Illegal immigrants are indeed therefore disproportionately concentrated in agricultural harvest work. and immigration enforcement efforts should be targeted accordingly. while providing farmers and ranchers with a legal source of workers if Americans cannot be found to do these jobs. Unfortunately. an amendment has been introduced to S. 2222 by my respected colleague Senator HAYAKAWA which would result in a severe curtailment of this needed enforcement by instituting a requirement that the border patrol obtain search warrants before conducting farm and ranch checks. While I recognize that Senator HAYAKAWA and his cosponsors have offered this amendment with the very best intention. I must voice my strong opposition because I believe that this is basically an antienforcement measure when the whole purpose of immigration reform is to increase enforcement. Furthermore. the bill. . provides for an expedited H2 program to provide a legal avenue of needed workers to agricultural employers. If there is not sufficient enforcement to insure that illegal workers are not hired. there will be no incentive for these employers to go through the H2 program. The courts have consistently ruled that searches of the open fields do not constitute a violation of the privacy rights protected by the 4th amendment. I have asked the Immigration and Naturalization Service to answer various questions regarding the potential effect that a search warrant requirement would have on enforcement operations. I would urge my colleagues to carefully read the response of Alan Nelson. the INS Commissioner. I ask unanimous consent that my original letter and Mr.