Speech #980210311

Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to House Resolution 519. which provides a rule for consideration of H.R. 1510. the Mazzoli immigration reform legislation. We are told. Mr. Speaker. that we must act now on this legislation. We are told that we should support its consideration because it is the result of extensive study by the bipartisan Select Commission on Immigration. What we are not told. however. is that H.R. 1510 does not reflect the recommendations of that bipartisan panel. For example: The Select Commission specifically rejected guestworker programs. while the Mazzoli bill includes a massive expansion of these programs. The Select Commission specifically rejected proposals to severely limit the right to judicial review and other legal protections for asylum and exclusion cases. while the Mazzoli bill removes such protections. The Select Commission supported increases in legal immigration. the Mazzoli bill is silent on this issue and the Senate version actually reduces such immigration. In addition. there have been recent studies. data. and Supreme Court decisions which would greatly affect or refute the current legislation if they were taken into consideration. Yet. they have not been. We are told that employer sanctions. the centerpiece of this legislation. is the only method by which we will be able to stop employers from hiring undocumented aliens. However. Mr. Speaker. we are not told that a GAO report. issued after the Select Commissions report and done at the request of Senator SiMPSON. found that employer sanctions were proven not effective in the 20 foreign countries which had previously adopted them. We are also not told that more recent reports. including that of the Urban Institute. have refuted the premise underlying employer sanctionsthat undocumented immigrants displace American workers. Despite- all of this. we are still told that employer sanctions are needed to open jobs for American citizens that are currently held by undocumented aliens. What we are not told is that this same legislation expands the current temporary guestworker program to permit up to 500.000 foreign workers to enter the country for up to a period of 1 year. It seems to me. Mr. Speaker. that the bill itself acknowledges the fact that the majority of jobs now held by undocumented aliens will not be taken by American citizens. The proponents of H.R. 1510 have made it easier for many employers to accept the employer sanctions concept because they have also provided these employers with a new supply of cheap. exploitable foreign workers. We are told. Mr. Speaker. that our ethnic communities should put aside their concerns about the exacerbation of discrimination which will result from employer sanctions because. after all. H.R. 1510 contains an amnesty provision which will give millions of undocumented aliens the legal status they so badly seek. What we are not told is that this is not an amnesty program that allows anyone who has been here prior to January 1. 1982. to automatically become a legal resident alien. We are not told that the same 33 exclusions which apply to persons immigrating from overseas will be applied to individuals seeking legalization. In addition. these individuals must be able to prove they have resided continuously in the United States since 1982. Based on all the requirements. it has been estimated that. at most. 40 percent of the 2 to 4 Mjillion undocumented aliens estimated to be here by the Census Bureau will actually be legalized. We are also not told. Mr. Speaker. that the 60 percent or more of applicants who are found ineligible for legalization could be deported. since the information they will have given to the Immigration Service in the hope of receiving legal status will also be available to the INS border patrol. Last. we are not told that the Roybal alternative legislation. introduced over 3 months ago. more .. sely reflects the Select Commissions recommendations and the Civil Rights Commissions recommendations in the "Tarnished Golden Door." The Roybal alternative also does not contain contradictory provisions as H.R. 1510 does. It appears to me.