Speech #970274909

The question is whether this bill is the appropriate remedy. One hundred years ago. Congress first enacted a law regulating immigration. This act. referred to as the first general immigratiun law. provided for a system of control of immigration through the States under the general supervision of the Secretary of the Treasury. Subsequent Congresses faced the same issues we do today: Large numbers of aliens were being landed every year in violation of the 1882 act. contractlabor law was being evaded. immigration through neighboring countries was a problem. A Joint HouseSenate panel in 1889 found that the chief cause of the large number of illegally landed immigrants was the divided authority provided for the execution of the Immigration Act. Thereafter. the dual StateFederal administration of immigration matters ended. I ask if we are not again making the mistake of the 1882 legislature. of dividing the authority for enforcement of immigration laws between the employers in the several States and the Federal branch? Does not this legislation pass the buck to employers and to the border States for securing the border and regulating the flow of illegal labor in the absence of a guest worker program. In the absence of an improved H2 migrant labor program. in the absence of adequate resources for the Border Patrol. in the absence of fair search and seizure policies. in the threat to withdraw adequate resources for the States to cope with an amnesty program? How should we regain control of our borders and reform our immigration policies? According to a recent report by the University of California. Berkeley. a full onefourth of the Nations legal resident aliens live in California. If illegal immigrants and special refugees could be counted accurately. the report estimates that aliens might comprise over threequarters of the States current growth from migration and nearly onehalf of its estimated population growth from all sources. This bill needs guest worker program. needs an improved H2 program. and needs a search and seizure policy in open fields so as to be brought in line with the fourth amendment. The issue of documentation fraud must be confronted In the employer sanctions program. There must be a limitation on admission of legal immigrants and refugees. Without these changes. this bill will not amount to reform or control. If we want to avoid the regulation of our people within this Nation. then we must confront the issue of regulation of population pressures from without our Nation.*