Speech #990275123

Mr. Chairman. as reported from the Judiciary Committee. our bill established a criminal penalty for pattern and practice violations of the prohibition against knowingly hiring an illegal alien. What we have here is an amendment that strikes the criminal penalty for pattern and practice violations. Mr. Chairman. we feel that criminal penalties are warranted for repeat offenders to assure that unscrupulous employers do not simply absorb the monetary civil penalties provided in the bill as a cost of doing business and continue to hire illegal aliens. The profits to be made in some cases from hiring and from exploiting illegal aliens are substantial. and we fear that some employers are simply not going to be deterred by civil penalties alone. but warrant criminal penalties when a pattern and practice can be established. I think also that criminal penalties signal that Congress views repeated disregard of the employer sanctions provisions as a serious office and should result in severe penalties. These penalties. as we have heard. are graduated. and the criminal penalty will simply not be reached because of ignorance or clerical errors on the part of the employer.