Speech #980210402

I believe. think very seriously that it will. in fact. minimize and eliminate much of the discrimination that already exists in the United States against those of different colors. Let me just recite to my colleagues the statements of some of those people who testified before us to my colleagues. Thomas Donohue. testifying on behalf of the AFLCIO. for instance. observed that "a legislative prohibition on the employment of undocumented workersbacked by substantial and workable sanctions to deter employers from violating that prohibitionis the single most important deterrent to illegal immigration." That has been the official position of the AFLCIO since we have engaged them in debate and consultation in trying to deal with this very difficult problem. Althea Simmons. who testified before our subcommittee for the NAACPshe is one of their chief legislative representatives here in Washingtonexpressed support for employer sanctions and noted that "the continued influx of undocumented workers has a disparate impact on blacks * * *. In other testimony that she gave. to paraphrase her. she said that "blacks dont just think. blacks know" that unbridled illegal immigration into this country affects the minorities of this country far more than any other group. in that they take jobs of semiskilled positions. unskilled positions. and firstskilled position from the blacks in the inner city. There is a lot of dispute on what the impact is. and I can cite any number of statistics to suggest that there is no impact or there is almost an entire 100percent impact. I think the truth lies somewhere in between. A recent study done at the University of Rice suggests that the displacement factor of illegal immigrants to the United States on American citizens and permanent resident aliens who have a right to be in the United States is on the order of 40 percent. In other words. out of 100 jobs taken by illegal aliens. 40 of those are jobs that displaced American citizens or permanent resident aliens could fill. Other studies suggest it is 20 percent. But when we recognize the magnitude of the problem confronting us. the numbers that we are talking about. that is not an insubstantial impact on unemployment in the United States.