Speech #980210476

Mr. Chairman. I do not think there can be any question but that this legislation. as far as it deals with the problems of immigration. is in fact a good faith effort by the members of this committee to deal with the controversial and troublesome problem. My concern with this legislation focuses on the fact that I think they have gone beyond the issues of immigration reform when they went into the issues of the existing H2 program and started tampering with that program in the committee and then as the bill went on to the Agriculture Committee and to the Education and Labor Committee. we have seen additional efforts. I think what you have to say is that this is a thinly disguised effort. if you will. by those in the employer segment of our economy to get rid of that body of law which has protected guest workers that have come to this country. would have offered further protections for those guest workers that it is anticipated under this legislation to come to this country and. in fact. what we now have is. if the committee bill portions dealing with H2 workers and one or two of the amendments are adopted. we will permanently put in place the worst fears of what many people have said they want to avoid and that is the recreation of the bracero program. We. in fact. today have a body of law that has grown up in this country for the protection of American workers. for the protection of those people that we call our guests who come here and toil in our fields. to toil in our factories. to do work that we believe Americans will not do. and now what we are doing is putting permanently in place a program which will allow for the continued exploitation of those individuals. with really no showing either in the Judiciary Committee. in the Agriculture Committee. or in the Labor Committee that there is a need to tamper with this program.