Speech #980210494

They are willing to place the burden on a few. but not on the whole Nation. The discrimination study is therefore only a sop. designed to assuage the conscience of those who know that the inevitable result of a law that creates two classes of citizenship is a law that creates an invidious distinction between people who have the same legal and natural rights. There is no other conclusion to reach than this: a bill that makes every employer an immigration enforcer. but does not provide absolutely uniform treatment for all prospective employees. is a bill that establishes on its face a wholesale system of discrimination. Those employers who want to hire illegal aliens will not be discouraged by the mild penalties of this bill. knowing as they do the great odds against ever being caught. let alone caught repeatedly violating the law. And those employers who want some excuse to deny employment to people who for some reason act or look alien. will have a perfect excuse for the exercise of their prejudice. This bill cannot work because it merely addresses the symptoms of illegal entry. and not successfully at that. It does not in any way address the causes. It addresses the symptoms by attempting to discourage employment opportunities. It fails to address the symptoms effectively because it does not make legal entry possible. for example. it will do nothing to erase that backlog of 314.000 visa applicants in Mexico. It increases the limitation in Mexican immigration. but that. just like the employment sanctions. is more a swipe across the brow of conscience than it is a real solution. A real solution would require actions that are far beyond those the authors of this bill are willing to take. because a real solution requires changing the whole basis of existing law. It requires putting away those fears that lie behind this bill. and the fears that have lain behind every other immigration limitation that this country has ever enacted. As to the fears: Do immigrants steal jobs? No one can say for certain. but the best evidence is that immigrants are likely to take only jobs that few others are willing to take. Do immigrants drive down wages? They may. at least in the lowest paid occupations. those points where exploitation is real and routine for citizen and alien alike. Do immigrants become tax eaters? The evidence suggests that they have energy and zeal. and become among the most productive of our citizens. Dr. Hans Mark. the former Secretary of the Air Force. and himself an immigrant. once remarked to me. "These people are the brightest and best motivated we have. They are tremendous contributors to our country. Lets just call them all Americans." And my reading of history suggests that he is right. Indeed. the greatest energy in this countrys history. its greatest growth. came during periods when immigration was highest. Today. the most rapidly growing and most energetic places in the country are also places where immigrants are present in the greatest numbers. Not that we have limitless capacity. but neither should we deny the energy and ambition that immigrants bring with them. for it takes energy and daring and great determination to become an immigrant. But still the fear is presentthe desire to keep what is ours. the fear that others may take it over. change it. make it theirs and no longer our own. Being human. we prefer familiar devils. and it is easier to shut the door against strangers than to admit that they may have value to us. This. in a nation of immigrants. What is the real answer? Not SimpsonMazzoli. because this bill only raises a scarecrow against illegal entry. The real answer to illegal immigration comes in two parts: First. make legal entry possible. by doing away with country limitations that are unrealistic and unenforceable. second. provide help to create employment opportunities in the countries from whence immigrants come. As to the country limitation. I have already noted how the presentand the proposedcountry limitation would make legal entry all but impossible for the typical Mexican. and we have a backlog of visa applicants in Mexico that will never end. because of that limitation. Historically. there has never been a limitation on immigration from Mexico. The first limit was established by the 1965 law. and the illegal entry problem has been created by that limitation. Before the 1965 law. a person from Mexico or any other Western Hemisphere country had only to show that a job was available. that the applicant was in good health and would not become a public charge. to qualify for admission.