Speech #990284248

But. Mr. President. the crux of the immigration reform debate has always been over this bills dependence on sanctions on employers to deter hiring of undocumented workers as the key to deterring illegal immigration. Employer sanctions unwisely impose the burden of enforcing the Nations immigration laws on the Nations employers. Employer sanctions may cause employment discrimination. because the safest way to avoid scrutiny and sanctions is to have an allAnglo work force. Employer sanctions may breed a cottage industry in forged documents. and Employer sanctions can be the first step toward a national identification cardinternal passport systema primary tool of totalitarian governments to restrict the freedom of its citizens. And. when employer sanctions are discovered not to be working. they have not worked to quell illegal immigration everywhere they have been tried. that is when the danger of taking the second step occurs. This danger underscores the importance of the provision crafted by the very able senior Senator from Massachusetts. EDWARD KENNEDY. for a triggered sunset of employer sanctions upon a finding by GAO that employer sanctions are causing discrimination. Oddly. the conference report has tilted that sunset language so that it now would eliminate the antidiscrimination language. if it proves to be a burden on employers. reflecting the feeling of the managers that sanctions are more important to protect than the civil rights of individuals. I would have preferred stronger medicine. namely the "Pure sunset" on employer sanctions considered in the House. This legislation leaves unresolved or unfinished some major immigrationrelated problems. and. predictably. it will cause some new ones. By substituting beefed up labor law enforcement. coupled with sanctions targeted only on those employers with a pattern or practice of immigrationrelated labor law violationsthat is. those employers who traditionally use or exploit the undocumented for their economic benefitwe could avoid the worst side effects of employer sanctions. while preserving whatever deterrent effect sanctions may have. When we come back in 1987. we will need to come back to take care of the unfinished business: Alleviating any employment discrimination. dealing justly and promptly with the growing question of Central American refugees seeking political asylum. improving the service functions and eliminating the sometimes abusive practices of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. and returning to the Federal Government the properly Federal responsibility for paying the costs of our national immigration policy. It is only in the hope that we can deal equitably and promptly with these remaining issues in the next Congress. and with recognition of the value of the improvements in the present bill that I announce my intention to vote for the conference report before us. in spite of my serious reservations about it.