Speech #980210738

Billions more will be required in the years ahead. A more reasonable alternative to amnesty exists. The registry date provision has existed on the books since 1929 and it presently allows all illegal aliens who can show good moral character and continuous residence in the United States since 1948 to receive permanent resident status. It is a known and tested procedure. The committee proposal moves the 1948 date to 1973. which allows aliens with documentation proving their residence of at least 11 years to apply for this exemption. I believe this is a much more reasonable approach. and I therefore urge the deletion of the amnesty provisions of the bill in favor of the registry date revision. There are other provisions of the bill which I also believe undermine efforts toward meaningful immigration reform. For example. section 114 would require INS officers to obtain a warrant to enter open property without an owners consent. This ignores Supreme Court interpretations of fourth amendment requirements applied to open lands. The Commissioner of the INS has stated that section 114 "will. in effect. create a haven for illegal aliens in rural agricultural areas" and will drastically impair the ability of the INS to enforce our immigration laws. Under the bill. employers would be able to hide illegals in plain view of INS agents and shift them from one property to another as agents try to secure a search warrant for each property. This is a radical departure from current law and ought to be stricken from the bill. Another focal point of the legislation is the use of employer sanctions to attack one of the prime reasons illegals come to the United Statesto secure jobs. H.R. 1510 would make employment of illegal aliens a civil and criminal offense. Penalties for hiring an illegal include a citation or warning for a first offense. a $1.000 fine for every illegal hired after the initial warning. $2.000 for a third offense. and $3.000 and/or 1 year in jail for subsequent offenses. Employers would also be subject to a $500 fine for every employee whose status they fail to check. While I support employer sanctions and believe they will help to discourage the hiring of illegal immigrantsand thereby remove incentives for illegals to come to the United StatesI am concerned that H.R. 1510 makes the verification system. upon which sanctions are based. optional unless an employer has been found to be hiring illegals. The fact that it is optional undermines the effectiveness of employer sanctions. It will encourage illegals to shop around for employers who have not yet been caught for hiring illegals or for employers who choose not to use a verification system.