Speech #990186054

Mr. Speaker. over the last 6 months those of us who have sought a comprehensive reform of our immigration laws have been somewhat chagrined by the fact that the process has been in a state of limbo. We have been told that the waiting will prove to have been justified by the conclusion of a compromise agreement on the agricultural labor provisions of the bill which are argued to be the chief obstacle to progress. As I argued in my special order 2 days ago the very premise of the delay itself is without foundation. Both Houses on separate occasions have passed guestworker programs in the last two Congresses and there is every reason to believe that this body like the Senate last year will once again approve a temporary foreign worker program for agriculture. The truth of the matter is that it is the likelihood of success that has led opponents of such a program to delay consideration of an immigration reform bill rather than any stalemate over the matter itself. However. that is water under the bridge and it will be clear to all who have been responsible for holding up the legislative process. should a reform bill suffer a fate similar to that in the previous two Congresses. My focus here today will be somewhat different in that I think it would be beneficial to review the entire question of how the agricultural issue relates to the question of comprehensive immigration reform. I think that this is particularly important in light of the reports concerning ongoing negotiationspossibly even at this very moment as I speak. As I hope to demonstrate not only is the issue an integral aspect of reform. but is further complicated by the fact that the problems differ very significantly in different parts of the country. Testimony before our subcommittee could have one to believe that somewhere between 50 and 70 percent of the total agricultural work force in the Southwestern United States comes to work here from outside the country and without benefit of papers. However. the undocumented population in agriculture is estimated to be only about 15 percent of the total undocumented population. In other words. while a small portion of the total number is undocumented aliens work in agriculture. the agricultural industry is heavily dependent on an illegal workplace. As former INS Commissioner Leonel Castillo eloquently characterized the situation. "the U.S. is experiencing the worlds largest temporary worker program. larger than the guestworker progams of France. Holland and Germany. Only ours is unregulated * * * resulting in the Immigration Service having to arrest over a million persons annually * * * whose crime is that they want to work in this country." It should be noted that this flow of undocumented human beings is not a recent phenomena. The reality of a migrationary flow of labor from Mexico is not going to disappear. In the Western United States. this pattern has deep historical roots that date back into the early 1880s. In fact. our laws have periodically reflected a cognizance of this longstanding phenomenon. Specifically. Mexicans were exempt from the $4head tax imposed on each immigrant by the Immigration Act of 1907. Mexican agricultural workers were exempt from all restrictions imposed by the 1971 actsuch as the literacy test. $8head tax. and prohibition against entry by contract labor. The provisions of the 1924 act requiring all entrants to obtain visas and the prohibitions against entry by anyone having more than 50percent Indian blood were not enforced against persons from Mexico. Between 1942 and 1964. in excess of 4 million Mexican workers make the journey to the United States for temporary work under the much maligned bracero program. As mentioned previously. the flow of undocumented workers continues today on a sub rosa basis. The question remains. in the context of immigration reforms how will we address this reliance on undocumented labor by the agricultural industry? First of all. I would like to make it clear. that it is simply not possible for us to ignore the problem. We simply cannot bury our heads in the sand and pretend that this acute reliance on undocumented labor does not exist. It is essential that if immigration reform is to be truly comprehensive these issues must be hit "head on" and in a responsible way. To do otherwise would result in two entirely untenable alternatives. We would either place those in the industry of going out of business or intentionally violating the employer sanctions provisions of the bill in order to remain in business if they are unable to find a sufficent quantity of domestic workers to harvest their crops.