Speech #970226787

Mr. President. I voted for final passage of S. 2222. a bill reforming the Immigration and Nationality Act. I would like to briefly describe why I decided to support final passage despite several reservations I have about this bill. The present immigration system of the United States does not work adequately. Hundreds of thousands of people enter the United States illegally. because there are no legal restrictions against hiring such entrants. some employers take advantage of the illegal aliens they hire. knowing that such workers cannot complain about unsafe working conditions for fear of being deported. Many employers would prefer to hire only those legally in this country. but find it difficult to do so because of the rampant availability of counterfeit documents. Maintaining the present system serves those who want to exploit alien workers and lessens respect for our legal system. I have great admiration for the chairman of the Immigration Committee. ALAN SIMPSON. and for the ranking member. EDWARD KENNEDY. They have both worked long and hard to try to resolve the many issues surrounding immigration law reform. I believe the level of debate on this billas well as the outpouring of praise for these two menis an appropriate reflection of the diligence they showed while analyzing all the conflicting factors they considered before presenting S. 2222 to the Senate. It is important to have employer sanctions to assure that employers only hire those legally in this country. This protects citizens and residents of the United States who want Jobs. it protects workers from abuse from unscrupulous employers. and it protects employers who want to hire those legally in this country but who are now thwarted by the availability of fraudulent identification papers. I also believe that any reform of the immigration laws should include provisions to legalize those who have resided in the United States for several years. Although we refer to such people as "illegal aliens." it might be more precise to refer to them as "nonlegal." Given that their only crime is that they wanted to come to the United States to better themselves and to provide for their families. they certainly should not be considered criminals. Most of us are here today because we or our parents or grandparents were able to come to the United States. I am concerned. however. that the Senate decided to move the date of legalization back from 1982 to 1980. Under the bill as passed by the Senate. those who have lived here since 1980 would have no legal right to stay and we will. therefore. still have a large population living under the shadow of law. I hope that when the House of Representatives considers immigration law reforms that they settle on a later date. Before I voted for this bill I received assurances by Congressman MAZZOLI that the House of Representatives will protest several of the preference categoriesparticularly the second and fifth preferenceswhich are vital to protecting one of the major goals of immigration law. reunification of families and will provide more adequate judicial review provisions on rejected applications for political asylum.*