Speech #1010144315

Also. more generally. in the area of administrative reform. I believe a far larger and continuning role must be played by the Department of Labor In the enforcement and fashioning of employer sanctions policy. In many respects. a law aimed at allowing only eligible workers to find and keep a Job in Americas workplacethe goal of employer sanctionsis really a labor law as much as it is an immigration issue. In hindsight. it was probably a mistake for the 1986 Act to give the Department of Justice and INS the sole responsibility for implementing a laborrelated law. Unlike the Department of Labor. which has a well recognized and long established (and accepted) role In the American workplace. INS has had little or no experience with employers or In enforcing labor laws. Outside of the Southwest. most employers. as well as workers. consider It odd that INS. viewed as a border/immigration control force should be involved in enforcing workplace regulations and laws. Perhaps the time has come to seriously consider shifting the primacy of employer sanctions enforcement from INS to the Department of Labor. It has regional and field offices across the country already enforcing and monitoring labor laws and workplace conditions.