Speech #990082114

President. legalization is an essential corrollary to the implementation of employer sanctions. As we institute new enforcement policies. legalization allows us to wipe the slate clean. to deal humanely and responsibly with the problems of the past as we begin to deal more effectively with future illegal migration. Rather than granting outright amnesty as in previous bills. the pending bill creates a nine member "Legalization Commission" to determine whether employer sanctions and the new enforcement provisions are in place and working to curtail illegal alien flow before a legalization program can be implemented. They must report within 1 year. Even with the clarifying amendments adopted in committee. there are still many procedural questions about Just how this Commission would work. and just what it would have to determine. before legalization is authorizedand on what grounds it is supposed to make its decision that employer sanctions are curtailing illegal migration. It is an awkward procedure at best. with many uncertainties. and clearly walks away from a generous legalization program proposed in the previous bills Congess has passed. What would happen to an undocumented alien who would otherwise be eligible for legalization. but is caught during the year or more the Commission was deliberating? Should he be deported if he has been for many years and has strong ties to the community. and would have been eligible for legalization? And the Commissions findings are inevitably subjective and judgmental. and subject to lawsuits. Mr. President. the only sensible way to deal with this issue is to follow the Select Commissions recommendation that we move simultaneously on new enforcement strategies at the same time we also clean up the mess current law has created in a a large population of undcvumented aliens. After all. it is the result of current lawthe "Texas Proviso"-which has helped create the illegal alien problema law that says it is legal for an employer to hire an illegal alien. that has thrown a welcome mat for undocumented aliens to come to this country. The amendment I am offering simply takes the compromise agreed upon in last years conference committee. to establish a legalization program with a January 1. 1981. cutoff date. a twotrack system. to be implemented at the same time. in a phased fashion. as employer sanctions are implemented. It was a compromise that didnt go as far as I would have preferred. but it was a compromise reached just a few months ago. if it was good enough as a compromise last October. with Senator SiMPsONS support. it ought to be good enough for us now.