Speech #980219592

Inclusion of the guest worker program is indefensible. This program would provide insufficient protections and would have an adverse impact on domestic and foreign workers. Past experience with guest worker programs provide irrefutable evidence of aggravating. rather than ameliorating the illegal immigration problemin short. once in place the seasonal workers do not go home. There is no ceiling on the number of aliens allowed. As the number of seasonal workers inevitably rises. they clearly will become a source of competition for Americans in the workforce. Finally. there is no enforcement mechanism for the employer sanctions in the program. Surely. no one will suggest that this program is the best tool we can devise for combating illegal immigration. Legalization benefits all Americans. Undocumented aliens live in constant fear of detection and deportation. and as a result usually fail to report crimes. illness. or violations of labor or housing laws. Bringing undocumented persons out of hiding confers obvious benefits on all of society. However. there are three principal elements of a successful legalization program: First. inclusiveness. The program must be as broad as possible because anything less will leave a large number of aliens in an undocumented status. That result clearly defeats the entire purpose of the bill. To achieve our objective. the cutoff date must be as close as possible to the date of enactment of this act. I have supported the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policys recommendation that the continuous residency requirement be no longer than 2 years prior to the date of enactment. The Select Commission estimated that a cutoff date of January 1. 1982. would cover as much a 80 percent of our undocumented aliens. The second element is simplicity. The eligibility requirements must be simple and unambiguous.