Mr. Chairman. Ive been in Congress for 6 years now. and have listened to. and participated in. efforts to reform our immigration laws since the first day I arrived. As the Representative of an urban area. and one that has a very large population of first- and secondgeneration immigrants. I am especially mindful of the serious nature of our immigration policies. and their impact on the peoples of the world. During the past 6 years. weve examined immigration policies and practices. weve looked at the constitutional and statutory guidelines for allowing others to come to our shores. weve examined the social and economic factors involved in the guestworker programs and other variances to immigration law. and weve tried to broaden our outlook to take into consideration the legitimate political and human rights concerns that lead men and women to want to come to the United States. Today. we see the fruits of those labors in the bill before us. And. as much as I think this bill has merit. and as much as I would like to support it. I have a serious problem that will cause me to oppose it in its present form. Mr. Chairman. my opposition to this immigration bill arises because of its dependence on the use of foreign agricultural workers. imported into this country at a time when unemployment among domestic farmworkers and others involved in the agriculture industry is particularly acute. Just last month. the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that some 235.000 agricultural workers were unemployed and actively seeking work. These figures dont include the statistics on those agriculture workers who have dropped out of the "seeking work" category. or the number of farmers who own their land but are unable to work because of economic or other factors.
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immigration immigrants