Speech #1000043830

Senator DECONcINI. the senior Senator from Arizona for introducing this amendment. Mr. President. when we passed the Immigration Reform Act after 4 years of extremely contentious and divisive debate in both Houses of Congress. we all hoped this issue would be put behind us. I share the view of my distinguished colleague from Wyoming that all of us did not choose to revisit this issue at any time soon. But I think that it is important to point out here that when we passed the Immigration Reform Act we made certain provisions to ensure that there was an educated public. educated group of Americans on what exactly this bill meant to both employers and employees under this immigration reform bill. To safeguard against action which would be either discriminatory or unfair to either of those groups. we have incorporated into the bill various provisions to ensure that our concerns would be adequately addressed. but one such provision has not received congressional intent. and I am speaking. Mr. President. that it was of vital importance in the provisions that were to include a 6 months education period on the employer sanctions provision because of the civil and criminal penalties that our Nations employers would incur from employing illegal aliens. As my colleague from Arizona pointed out. there has been no action taken to provide this information to the American people. Indeed. efforts have been made but when you look at the 6month commitment that was supposed to be made as opposed to what is actually taking place. there is confusion. there is ignorance. and there is misunderstanding throughout the Nation. particularly in the Southwest. where this immigration law most applies and we need. I believe. a brief 4month respite to provide those citizens with a kind of information they need in order that the Immigration Reform Act can be properly carried out in fairness to all of our citizens. I appreciate the efforts of my colleagues from Arizona on this very important point. I might add this does nothing to this bill except give a 4month breathing period. one that I think is deserved by both employers and employees. Mr. President. our Nations immigration problems are back on Congress front burner. At a time when we are embarking upon our countrys most ambitious. but justifiably moral. legalization program. it is necessary for Congress to once again address an inexcusable situation. We are all well aware of the trials and tribulations endured during our 4 year debate on the contentious immigration reform measure. But I believed then. as I believe now. that our immigration policy and the laws which effectuated this policy were in dire need of immediate reform. Those involved in the effort to revamp our immigration policy had many varying reasons for doing so. however. we all agreed on a basic premiseinstitutionalized discrimination as a result of our efforts was unacceptable. We did not want our Nations predominantly receptive attitudes toward immigrants to give way to imagined evils and ambivalent xenophobic views. To safeguard against such action we incorporated into the immigration reform initiative various provisions to ensure that our concerns would be adequately addressed. But one such provision has not achieved congressional intent. Congress felt that it was vitally important to include a 6month education period on the employer sanctions provision because of the evil and criminal penalties our Nations employers would incur for employing illegal aliens. But the public information program Congress envisioned has not yet come to fruition. I acknowledge that some information has been disseminated to the public.