Speech #990284248

ALAN SIMPSON. who only a few short weeks ago. during one of those latenight Senate sessions. proclaimed his frustration by telling the Senate that he would not trouble us again on this subject. I congratulate Senator SIMPsON on his efforts and his apparent success in bringing forth a bill which so many in both houses of the Congress support. There has never been any doubt that illegal immigration and our uncontrolled Southern border are a major concern for our Nation. and that Congress needs to do something about it. There has always been wide agreement on some of the steps that needed to be takenstrengthening our border enforcement. for example. I have always supported such steps. And there have been thorny. complex. multisided disagreements on the value. effectiveness. and potential side effects of some of the central strategies of the present bill and its predecssors. in the ways it attempted to control future illegal immigration and deal with the 2 to 12 million undocumented peopleprobably around 6 millionwho are already here. The conference report before us is. from my point of view. more tolerable than any version the Senate has considered. It does strengthen our Border Patrol. It assuresfor the first time. in ways acceptable to both growers and American farmworkersadditional agricultural workers to harvest Californias perishable crops under conditions where exploitation of foreign workers is less likely. and dependence on undocumented workers is unnecessary. It offers more generous and humane terms of legalization for undocumented workers who qualify than any previous version presented to the Senate. I believe that the bill may reduce the vulnerability to exploitation of many of those who have been here without documents. And. for the first time. it attempts to provide a remedy for those Americansespecially Hispanics and Asianswho may face increased employment discrimination as a result of the employer sanctions provisions of this bill.