Speech #990082201

Mr. President. the amendment before us would require that officers of the Immigration and Naturalization Service obtain a search warrant prior to entering open fields to apprehend illegal aliens. It would ensure that farmers. ranchers. and farm and ranch workers are afforded the same protection against unreasonable and warrantless searches by INS agents as other businessmen and workers now enjoy. I rise in support of this amendment. which will remedy an injustice which results from the current law. Under a Supreme Court case decided several years ago. agents of the INS are not required to secure search warrants before entering open fields. Currently. therefore. an INS agent must routinely obtain a search warrant before entering any place of business. except that place of business is a ranch or farm. The INS can raid the open fields of a farm or ranch without having probable cause to believe that the workers in those fields are illegal aliens. This practice is arbitrary and discriminatory. It discriminates against ranches and farms and those people who work on ranches and farms. It severely disrupts farming operations. resulting in thousands of dollars in lost crops and manhours annually. The loophole that allows INS agents to enter farms and ranches without search warrants has led the INS to concentrate its enforcement efforts primarily on agriculture. While only 8 to 15 percent of the total number of illegal aliens in this country work on farms and ranches. nearly half of all INS apprehensions take place on farms and ranches. These figures reflect a distinct bias in INS enforcement activities against our ranch and farm industries. A similar amendment was proposed to the immigration bill that was passed in 1983. I cosponsored that amendment. which was passed by a vote of 62 to 33. I am proud to cosponsor this amendment again.