Speech #980204109

Mr. Speaker. with the SimpsonMazzoli bill due for floor consideration in the near future. I would like to commend to my colleagues the following article on illegal immigrants which recently appeared in Business Week. Many are under the false impression that the SimpsonMazzoli bill is a jobs bill and much support is based on the misguided assumption that control of undocumented immigrants will somehow create more jobs for Americans. However. as this article indicates. the amount of job displacement by undocumented workers is grossly overstated. In fact. immigrants. whether documented or undocumented. tend to stimulate the economy of our country and create jobs. There is evidence to suggest that undocumented immigration negatively impacts the wages and working conditions of American workers. However. the article also points out that the extent of the impact undocumented immigrants have on American wages and working conditions is also overstated. Morever. the way to resolve such a problem is to deal with it directly through the enforcement of existing wage. hour. and working condition laws. thereby removing the economic incentive to hire undocumented aliens while safeguarding the rights of American workers. The text is as follows: [From Business Week. May 14. 1984)