Speech #990081504

But the effort in my Judgment is flawed. There are some serious problems. I think there are problems. correctly identified by some who fear that there will be defensive discrimination on the part of small businessmen and women when aj employers they are faced with the propsect of the possible hassle of Federal prosecution if they hire an illegal alien by mistake. So in order to avoid that possibility many are going to look and listen to job applicants. And if they see one who sounds or looks foreign without saying to anyone that they are doing so. they may very well seek to avoid the possibility of prosecution by opting in favor of those who look and sound as though they were U.S. citizens even though many U.S. citizens. particularly those of Hispanic ancestry. look and sound foreign but are in fact U.S. citizens entitled to all the rights and privileges of citizenship. There are other problems with the legislation. But the basic problem has to do with the fundamental assumption that employer sanctions are somehow going to stem this massive flow of illegal immigration. I should tell my friend from Wyoming that I suspect that no one else on this floor has considered the problem of illegal immigration from quite the same vantage point as have I for many. many years before I came to this body as a citizen of San Diego County. as a resident of that county in the southwestern corner of the United States. My home was in a community that is literally on the Mexican border. It is a fact that it is the busiest international crossing in the world. That is counting the legal crossings. It is a lot busier than that because of the massive nightly illegal immigration into the United States. not Just through San Diego County. but all along that very porous. 1.800mile long. undefended border. I was mayor of that city for 11 years. During the time that I served as mayor. it grew from 14 to the 17th most populace in the United States.