Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 2138. which amends the Immigration and Nationality Act by adding lori)gshore work to the employer sanction provisions of the act. This act requires that all U.S. employers verify that newly hired employees are authorized to work in the United States. These employer sanction provisions were added by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. This legislation provides that foreign longshore workers are allowed to work in the United States only if a workers home country allows U.S. nationals to perform longshore work in their country. During the subcommittee hearings on this legislation. we heard testimony that the United States is the only country that now allows foreign longshoremen to perform work at its own ports. The bill corrects this inequity by allowing only U.S. longshoremen to perform work at U.S. ports. The legislation before us today is compatible with current immigration law and was unanimously agreed to by subcommittee members. The Department of Justice. while it does not support H.R. 2138. does support its concept. I hope that it is possible for us to reach an agreement on the concepts embraced by H.R. 2138.
Keywords matched
Immigration immigration