Mr. Chairman. I rise to express my serious and vehement opposition to H.R. 7357. the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1982. I have had the opportunity to examine extensively this legislation. and to assess its impact as immigration reform. and have concluded that it is unfortunately a shortsighted approach. I believe this approach will not succeed. and that it will result in the exacerbation of many serious problems confronting Hispanics. Haitians. and other immigrant groups. A major question which leads me to regard this legislation as ultimately ineffective and not meriting House approval in its present form. is that there are no provisions which address the major "push factors." such as devastating economic conditions. which lead to immigration. It is absolutely imperative that legislation reforming immigration policy take into account the evergrowing political and economic instability of developing nations. This bill only addresses immigration once people are within our borders. a logical approach would take into account the origins of push factors in sending countries. It is difficult to believe that internal enforcement policies such as employer sanctions will have any effective impact whatsoever. Our immigration policies must be integrated with our foreign policyfor clearly they are interrelated. From one standpoint. our foreign policy contributes to our immigration problem. I do not think there can be any doubt that our policies toward Haiti. El Salvador. or Guatemala. have stimulated major migrations of those populations to our country. In Washington. D.C.. there are upward of 50.000 Salvadorans alone. Conversely. our immigration policy has a grave effect on other nations. I would like to bring to the attention of my colleagues a letter dated December 17. from the Mexican Senate to the House of Representatives. The letter conveys a resolution unanimously passed in the Mexican Senate on December 8.
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