Speech #970264475

That list Includes the Reagan administration. several national Jewish organizations. the U.S. Catholic Conference. Father Theodore Hesburgh and his Citizens Committee for Immigration Reform. and numerous ethnic organizations. It is also noteworthy that the past four administrations and the bipartisan Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy endorsed employer sanctions and recommended many of the provisions contained in this bill. I recognize that the opponents of this legislation are also numerous and that many of the concerns they have expressed are indeed legitimate. However. an analysis of those concerns demonstrates that many. in fact. are addressed by the legislation. while others relate more directly to possible changes that have been proposed or to the Senate version of this legislation. I would also like to point out that there are certain inherent risks in deferring consideration of this matter until some future time. as some critics of the bill have suggested. I. for one. am deeply concer.ed by the increasinZly hostile attitude toward newly arrived immigrants and refugees. that we have witnessed over the past 2 years. As a result. I have little hope that the future will bring a better "legislative climate" for debating this type of legislation. Because of my fear that the atmosphere surrounding the imm.gration issue will grow more restrictionist. I believe the time for enacting meaningful and effective immigration legislation is now. I wish to insert in the RECORD a letter I received last week from the Attorney General recognizing the importance of the legalization program proposed in this legislation. In that letter he stated that this country can no longer "tolerate the existence of a hidden foreign people within our borders. living apart from American laws." I certainly agree with his comment and I know he shares my view that the legalization program is an essential part of the legislation that will be debated later this week. Our sense of fairness and decency and the fact that undocumented aliens have contributed to our economic wellbeing require that we provide this exploitable "shadow population" with the opportunity to be legalized. I also wish to insert in the REcoRD a letter I received last Friday from the Reverend Theodore Hesburgh. president of Notre Dame and cochairperson of the Citizens Committee for Immigration Reform supporting this legislation. As former Chairman of both the Civil Rights Commission and the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy. he is eminently qualified to discuss the pending bill. Father Hesburghs letter points out quite clearly the need for employer sanctions and a generous legalization program in order to "wipe the slate clean" for undocumented aliens who have "lived in the shadows as an underclass." I hope my colleagues will keep his comments in mind as we debate this important legislation.