Speech #970225474

Let me say in conclusion that there was commentary during the early effort of the Senator from California on this issue that the INS was selectively enforcing the laws. The Senator cited a statistic that almost 50 percent of undocumented alien workers apprehended by the INS are in agriculture. Actually. in terms of the record. there are approximately 1 million apprehensions annually 953.475 in fiscal year 1981. and only 8 percent were located in agricultural occupations. Of the 1 million illegal aliens apprehended yearly by the Service. approximately 168.000 are located after they entered the United States and secured employment. and half of those are located in agriculture. including almost 60.000 which are apprehended as a result of farm and ranch checks. The most significant thing. to put it in perspective. is that a more accurate reflection of the Services resources and allocations on this issue of enforcement in agricultural areas is the percentage of actual enforcement time devoted to that kind of activity. rather than as to the apprehensions within that area. The overall percentage of INS field enforcement manhours devoted solely to apprehensions of illegal aliens in agricultural occupations in fiscal year 1981 was 2 percent. I think those are rather significant figures. If this amendment were to pass. what we would effectively have is a free zone for illegal aliens in the United States of America. known for the lack of any appreciable enforcement or apprehensions. In other words. this amendment would create a type of free zone for illegal aliens in the agricultural areas of the interior of our Nation. making it extremely difficult or impossible to effect their apphehension or their removal. I think such an amendment would also perpetuate the status quo for these illegal immigrants. They are going to stay there. They will. in turn. be encouraged to bring in their family members. their spouses. their children. in light of the reduced risk of detection in these zones. I think illegal migration in the interior of the United States could be expected to increase. Those are some of the reasons. The rest of the reasons are very clearly set out in the letter from the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Mr. President. for those reasons.