Speech #990082580

I would ask I? they had any family in the United States. and the response was. "Si. hermana en Houston. hermano en San Diego." Mr. President. the Senator from Wyoming is correct in the rather gentle way he stated it when he says that he has inferred that the Government of Mexico believes it to be in their interest that the current situation exists. It is. to put it in the plainest terms. a safety valve for the Government of Mexico to see the kind of massive illegal immigration that has become a fact of life continue. a safety valve to allow those whom the Mexican economy evidently cannot employ to find their way to perhaps employment but almost decidedly a better way of life. except in the instances that the Senator from Wyoming has pointed out. Their illegal status makes them vulnerable and many of them are subject to the cruelest exploitation. Almost all of them are subjected to exploitation in the first instance by the smugglers who smuggled them into the country at a high cost. not just in pesos and dollars. which amounts to between $500 and $1.500 per head. but also in terms of what they are required to endure in the way of indignity and danger.